National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photo: Alien Giant Snakes Threaten to Invade Up to 1/3 of U.S.


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Researchers place a radio transmitter inside a 16-foot (5-meter) Burmese python in Florida's Everglades National Park in an undated photo.

Native to Asia, the species is already established in the wild in Florida and is taking a toll on Floridian animals. A similar fate could await ecosystems in a wide swath of the U.S. if other non-native giant snake species are allowed to flourish in the country, an October 2009 study says.

Photograph courtesy Lori Oberhofer, National Park Service