The Burmese python’s presence in the Everglades is doing nothing but negatively affecting the world. In addition to it wiping out mass amounts of animal life, the Burmese python is affecting the local ecosystem, and lives of humans.
The presence of the Burmese python is negatively affecting the Everglades. The invasion of the python was totally a man-made event. People would buy the Burmese python from exotic pet dealers completely unaware of how big the python could get, which is up to 23 feet long and up to 200 pounds. The Burmese python has chemical receptors in their tongues along with heat sensors on their jaws which allow the animal to hunt for their prey in the night. This helps the python massively because without those abilities it'd
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There are an estimated, tens of thousands pythons living in the Everglades. One Burmese python can eat a lot by itself, but then you multiply that by tens of thousands, mass amounts of animal life goes down. The newspaper said,”With no natural predators, these eating machines appear to be wiping out huge numbers of opossums, raccoons, and bobcats, as well as many bird species.” This shows that the tens of thousands of Burmese pythons living in the Everglades are having a mass effect on the animal species living in the Everglades. If the Burmese pythons problem does not go away, it may lead to the extinction of some types of animals in the …show more content…
By using the pythons big size and massive jaw to swallow animals whole, the tens of thousand pythons are slowly, but surely, destroying the ecosystem in the Everglades. “A growing population of Burmese pythons— many pets turned loose by their owners when they became too big—is threatening the ecosystem of Florida’s Everglades. With no natural predators, these eating machines appear to be wiping out huge numbers of opossums, raccoons, and bobcats, as well as many bird species. Tens of thousands of Burmese pythons are estimated to be living in the Everglades, where they thrive in the warm, humid climate.” states a local newspaper article on how the pythons are ruining the
No matter what plan officials created to eradicate the species from the area it did not work and unlike in the article “Vicious Texas Ants Reach Fresno County” by David Perlman, they can not simply quarantine the area and march in to kill all of the snakes. This will not work because the Everglades is 1.5 million acres of wetlands and there is no way that a region of this size would be able to be sealed off from the outside world. Plans for eradicating the species are not being thought of as often and instead of trying to eliminate them, officials are thinking of ways to coexist with the snakes without any damage coming to the
Unable to handle their giant snakes, and unable to find new homes for them, some owners illegally release them into the wild. They are also an invasive species, which means that they are not constrained by natural factors as much as they were in their native habitat. Invasive species have the potential to harm their new environments. The release of Burmese pythons in South Florida is especially troublesome because the subtropical climate and the vast undisturbed habitats of the Everglades enable the species to thrive.
The Everglades used to be a very beautiful tourist attraction, but have been largely affected by the existence of pesticides. However, the majority of pesticides is not specifically targeting the pest only but they also affect non-target plants and animals during their application. The Effect of pesticide runoffs on the Everglades is destroying one Florida’s major tourist attractions due to the cultivation of sugar cane just to mention one of those responsible and creates a loss of natural habitat, water pollution, and threatens existence of wildlife. Many pesticides are not easily degradable; they persist in soil, leach to groundwater and surface water and contaminate wide environment.
Myers, V. (1994, December). The Everglades: Researchers take a new approach to an old problem. Sea Frontiers, 40, 15-16.
With no natural predators, the pythons eat and are wiping out possums, raccoons, bobcats, and many bird species. Many species are getting wiped out due to thousands of pythons living in the Everglades.
The piece I chose to do my literary analysis on was the article, The Truth About Invasive Species, written by Alan Burdick. The article states that invasive species are all around us, but the area with the most prominent amount is the suburbs of Miami. It goes into detail about how abundant invasive species are in this area. Most people who would see a strange animal in their lawn or area would be bemused, however for the people of Southern Florida, this is a recurring scene. Burdick states that “virtually everyone in the South Florida, including Hardwick, has a neighbor with a backyard menagerie of lucrative critters on hold for resale”. Burdick describes both how an invasive species is introduced into an ecosystem, and the impact the have on other species upon their arrival.
The Burmese python is one of the largest snakes in the world. The common Burmese python is tan in color with dark spots and blotches on the back and sides. They have a triangular-shaped head with a dark brown, pyramid wedge pointing towards the nose. The Burmese pythons are semi-aquatic and are found usually found near or in water. They’re also exceptional climbers and can be found in trees. The Burmese python is located in the Everglades, in south Florida, they also have been seen in Naples. They are thought that they’re moving northwest. Burmese pythons have been-been known to prey upon rabbits, large rodents, birds, and even alligators. The Burmese python can live for about 30 years in the wild. Handling these snakes are very dangerous, they say that you should never attempt to handle these yourself if needed to call a professional snake removal company.
An invasive species is defined as a plant, animal or pathogen that is non-native to an environment. With the introduction of an invasive species to an ecosystem it is expected to have adverse effects on the environment. The Burmese python is one non-native species to the Everglades. The constrictors can grow up to 7 meters, weighing up to 90 kilograms and live mostly on ground level or stay submerged in water for up to 30 minutes. This species of snake senses prey through chemical receptors in its tongues and heat-sensors along the jaw due to its poor eyesight. (Society, 2014). Burmese pythons kill prey through suffocating the animal by clamping down on the prey with its sharp teeth and coiling its body around the animal. The Python is able to unhinge its jaw and swallow food whole. Upon introduction into the Everglades ecosystem the snake with its large size poses a huge threat to indigenous species of the wetlands.
Burmese pythons are causing large problems in Florida. In the Everglades National Park, it is hard to spot any small or large animals, because the burmese pythons are hunting them. Which is concerning to animal population.
Parry, Wynne. (Sept. 23Rd , 2011) Exotic Pets Turning Invasive, Threatning Florida. Tech Media. Retrieved March 10th 2014, from http://www.livescience.com/16204-florida-invasive-reptiles-amphibians.html
Have you ever asked yourself, “Shouldn’t we do something about invasive species since they’re so bad?”. Actually, invasive species can be very good for the environment, just that we only ever talk about the downsides. This essay will argue that humans shouldn’t act to remove invasive species because when humans try to move invasive species, things like birds might not have food and the government will be losing money we need to pay someone to remove the invasive organisms. ‘
If the snakehead becomes established in a body of water it can disrupt the ecosystems predator-prey balance. the have been two accounts of stable breeding populations of Snakehead in both Florida and California, where the climate is warm enough for the Snakeheads to thrive once they are there. Individual Snakeheads have been caught all over the United states, including states as Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island and Hawaii. The founding in Hawaii is especially troublesome, since Hawaii is already burdened with the plague of numerous other invasive species that threaten to eradicate the flora and fauna of the island. Australia is another warning example that tells us how severe the impact of just a few invasive species can be to an ecosystem in the case of the cane toad . It also a shows us how difficult it can be to eradicate, or even control, a species once it has established a breeding population. Even if the effects have not been as severe as on Hawaii or Australia, the United States mainland has in no way been blessed from problems invasive species throughout history. (Saylor et al 2012) The snakehead can instinctively move to a new body of water through waterway connections or across land once food becomes scarce which puts all waters at risk for invasion. There is always the potential of a new species to bring with it new diseases and parasites and the same is true for any species of snakehead. The snakehead puts all of our endangered species of amphibians, fishes and crustaceans at risk of extinction. There does not need to be a large population of snakeheads to become a problem, even just one snakehead poses a threat because of its voracious feeding behavior. There is also a threat to humans. they have been known to atta...
...and food. Their skin is used to make high quality leather. In 1950, American alligators were seriously endangered because humans were over hunting alligators. Then in 1967, the endangered species preservation act stopped the hunting of alligators and the number of alligators quickly rose. Now there are millions of alligators and people are allowed to hunt alligators again. Alligators are losing their habitat because wetlands are being filled to create land for houses, farms, and industries.
...s been happening for thousands of years. If deforestation continues all of the planets rainforests will be destroyed within one hundred years. Many negative effects come from deforestation. Climate change, extinction, desertification, flooding, and deaths can all occur from deforestation. People, businesses, and governments can all work together to stop deforestation and save the sloth. Regulations and laws can slow and prevent deforestation. businesses can choose to only receive from less environmentally harmful suppliers. Consumers can buy environmentally friendly materials. Finally voters can vote those into office who wish to stop environmental degradation and save natures most biologically diverse ecosystem and the sloth along with it. We can stop deforestation and help the sloths population grow. With each person working together the sloth can make a comeback.
Like the approach that is being taken in Yellowstone. The officials there are going to remove the native fish from the streams, then put a poison called rotenone, to kill all of the invaders. A park in Utah is having a similar problem, but is taking a different approach to remove the invaders. In Red Hills Desert Garden, they will remove the native fish, like in Yellowstone, but instead of poisoning the fish, they will simply drain the water from the streams, letting the remaining invasive fish dry up. Another way to remove fish is introduce new species that can eat them and control them more. This is the case in many Mississippi connected bodies of water. The asian carp have taken over many parts of the Mississippi and a few of the great lakes. In an attempt to control this very invasive fish, the government has began to introduce the alligator gar. The massive, 8 foot, 300 pound fish, are expected to eat many of the rapidly reproducing asian carp. Going back to the brown tree snake, “The federal government is preparing to drop dead mice laced with a snake toxicant into the jungles of Guam in the latest effort to control the thousands of brown tree snakes that have invaded the Pacific island.” (Entertainment News Service). The mice will have streamers attached to catch on trees and will be laced with 80 mg of acetaminophen, which