Southeast Asian pythons slaughtered many small mammals in the United States

Southeast Asian pythons are causing panic to native animals in the state of South Florida in the United States, although not so much as in the film "Anacondas" , but also making the ecosystem lose weight. serious degree.

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AFP news agency cited a study published on January 30, saying that rabbits, koalas, wild cats and foxes in Florida are disappearing at a very fast pace in the last decade due to the invasion of living creatures. above mentioned foreign.

A study published in the Journal of the National Academy of Sciences found that this large-sized python attacked many rodents in Florida, causing a "serious decline" in numbers and effects. Indirect action on the food chain of many other species.

The United States officially banned the import of python Southeast Asia in early January, but the study said the species has caused serious damage to the ecosystem in Florida.

The study is based on information gathered from the statistics of live and dead animals along the roads. In the period 1993 - 1999, before this exotic python increased in Florida, wombats, vesicles and rabbits were often found dead along the roads due to natural causes.

Researcher Michael Dorcasa (Davidson University, North Carolina) and colleagues from the US National Parks Department's Department of Nature and Fisheries said in the period of 2003-2011, statistics show the amount of corpses koalas are down 99.3%, opal animals fall by 98.9% and no bodies of rabbits or foxes are found in the roads. The study also found that carcasses of white-eared deer declined by 94.1% and wild cats decreased by 87.5%.

This is believed to be related to the increase in Southeast Asian pythons in this region. Michael Dorcasa said: 'The dramatic decline in the number of marsupials coincides with the recent increase in Southeast Asian pythons in Everglades National Park, Florida.'

Conservationists argue that in some national parks, some species need to be eliminated if they are overgrown and threaten the ecosystem. In the above period, the number of pythons in Southeast Asia has changed from 0-50 children / year to 300-400 heads / year.

The koalas, opal animals, wild cats, deer and rabbits are all Southeast Asian python food. Pocket animals and opium are particularly vulnerable because they feed in areas near the water's edge, where pythons live, while other species such as deer or wildcat may be less at risk from This alien species.

The US authorities are still unclear why Southeast Asian pythons get into the Everglades National Park, with doubts that some people raise them as pets and drop them into the park when they are too big.

Another theory is that the python increased sharply after Hurricane Andrew swept the region in 1992, destroying many pet stores in the home and causing many pythons to escape naturally.

Exotic species are considered to be the biggest threat to biodiversity and the war against these species each year consumes US $ 120 billion.