The Burmese python was compelled to regurgitate a white-tailed deer when temperatures in Florida declined to 50 degrees Fahrenheit.(Image credit: Travis Mangione, U.S. National Park Service)ShareShare by:
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In Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve, a Burmese python spewed up a complete white-tailed deer subsequent to a drop in temperatures in South Florida below 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) during the latter part of the prior year, notably beyond the cold-blooded animal’s agreeable range.
Although it is recognized that pythons throw up their provisions in chilly lab conditions, until now, scientists had not observed the evasive snakes engaging in this behavior in the wild. The singular sighting, documented in late November 2024, is detailed within a study issued in July in the journal Ecology and Evolution.
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Since the late 1970s, Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) have been an exotic species in Florida. Despite their presence over numerous decades, their study remains incomplete, leading to knowledge deficiencies regarding the snakes’ biology and their interactions with native animals, such as deer.
The deer population is diminishing within the preserve, raising concerns due to their significant role in the diets of indigenous predators like Florida panthers (Puma concolor coryi). In order to understand the frequency with which snakes consume deer and their digestion rates, researchers at the preserve tracked the digestion process of numerous large female pythons — those deemed most probable to have consumed a deer — for a year.
One observed snake exhibited a pronounced bulge in its stomach, indicative of consuming something around the size of a deer. However, over the following days, the bulge’s size did not visibly decrease.
A week after initially spotting a significant food mass, a Burmese python is observed resting in water, still engaged in digesting its meal.
Following a frigid night when temperatures within the preserve plummeted to 48.9 F (9.4 C), scientists revisited the snake. They noted its lack of a bulge, spotting it swimming in the shallows of a willow marsh adjacent to a lightly digested white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) it had expelled.
“They discerned her to be extremely empty, picked up on a deer scent in close proximity, and pieced together the occurrence,” Sandfoss noted.
The white-tailed deer, approximately 2.5 years in age and weighing 61 pounds (28 kilograms), exhibited only light digestion even after being held within the snake for roughly 10 days.
Being cold-blooded, or ectothermic, makes it hard for snakes to operate in low temperatures. Their biological processes, including digestion, are retarded until the temperature increases.
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Should the environmental temperature decline excessively, a snake’s food might commence decomposition within its stomach prior to the snake digesting it, facilitating bacterial accumulation. In response, the snake vomits to rid itself of bacteria. Such an act can deplete energy in a snake already craving nutrition; however, the snake described in the research survived.
Sandfoss elucidated the complex ramifications of the Burmese python’s survival, given its status as an exotic species within Florida. Passing up one of its rare annual large meals could deny it sufficient energy for reproduction, assisting in managing the python population. Conversely, the snake could prey on a further deer to replenish lost energy, further endangering the deer stock relied upon by native predators.
“Deer in Big Cypress have faced declining numbers for several years, and we consider pythons a contributing factor,” noted lead author Travis Mangione, a biologist with the National Park Service (NPS), to Live Science. “As this python endured the vomiting episode, it will persist in consuming native wildlife.”
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In parallel with scientists striving to comprehend the influence of wild Burmese pythons’ vomiting episodes on the local ecosystem, spotting such events in the wild yields important insights regarding the invasive species’ reach throughout the United States. According to Sandfoss, temperature poses a pivotal constraint on the snakes’ habitat range, with the lowest tolerable temperature potentially being that at which they can digest.
The recent study harmonizes with an overarching, yet-to-be-released research project scrutinizing a complete year’s worth of python dietary data. The scientists driving this endeavor aspire to uncover details concerning the fundamental biological process of digestion in Burmese pythons, which remains under-investigated.
“Pythons have intricate biology, and we are relatively unaccustomed to interacting with an animal of this nature at such breadth — this terrestrial, massive, invasive ectotherm,” Sandfoss stated. “We endeavor to discern all these components.”
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K.R. CallawayLive Science Contributor
K.R. Callaway is a freelance journalist specializing in science, health, history and policy. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Classics from the University of Virginia and is a current master’s student in New York University’s Science, Health & Environmental Reporting Program.
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