Just when you thought you knew everything about one of the least favorite invasive species in Florida, there is a surprise.
Scientists have discovered a new type of cell that helps Burmese pythons absorb the skeletons of their prey, according to the magazine of experimental biology.
You heard properly after Python swallows it – which can be as big as the whole deer – the researchers have found why bone fragments, um, at both ends. All this is related to the newly discovered bone cell in the intestine of snakes.
Where do Burmese pythons live?
Initially from Southeast Asia, the Burmese python was introduced into South Florida or by accidental escape or deliberate release of captivity.
The conservation of Southwestern Florida has removed more than 20 tonnes – 40,000 pounds – Burmese pythons in southwestern Florida since 2013.
The team uses 40 “intelligence snakes” to find reproductive pythons during the breeding season, from November to April, in an area of public and private land of 200 square miles from Naples through the Western Evergades.
“Biologists are aimed at adult female pythons, trying to suppress Python’s reproduction. Since 2013, the team has stopped an additional 20,000 Python eggs from hatching,” said Southwestern Florida conservation.
What do Burmese pythons eat?
Hooks can consume dishes over 100% of their body weight by feeding on a diet that includes more than 85 species, including deer, beans, foxes, rabbits, birds, various reptiles and other local wild animals.
Special cells allow Burmese pythons to absorb the skeletons of their prey
Python is trying to swallow a 77-pound deer. Photo: Ian Bartosek
Scientists have discovered a “unknown cell type” in the walls of the bowls of pythons that completely dissolve the skeletons, according to a study published in the magazine for experimental biology.
Professor Jehan-Hersce Lignot of the University of Montpellier in France has been credited for the discovery, using minors in captivity of minors such as his test objects and subjected serpents with three different types of diet: a normal diet with whole rodents; a low calcium diet using boneless rodents; And a calcium -rich diet using bone -free rodents and calcium carbonate supplements.
The examination of specialized cells in the intestine of snakes revealed that “Burmese pythons have a specialized type of intestinal cells involved in the excretion of excess calcium and phosphorus, which are descended from prey and precipitate as particles that must accumulate in the faeces.”
Boneless snakes suffer from calcium deficiency, but too much calcium is also not good, and absorption of calcium from the entire skeleton can put too much calcium into the blood of snakes.
“We wanted to identify how they were able to process and limit this enormous absorption of calcium across the intestinal wall,” Linno told Eurekaalert, a non -profit platform for the spread of news, managed by the American Science Development Association.
Burmese pythons are not alone when it comes to specialized cells. They are also identified in other pythons, boa constructors and the poisonous monster Gila. “
The largest pythons documented in Florida
Burmese pythons, classified as one of the largest snakes in the world, are invasive indicates in Florida and are found mainly in and around Everglades, where the snake poses a threat to the local wildlife, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.
The conservation of Southwestern Florida said its scientists have been recognized as capturing the largest female python, documented so far, measuring 18 feet and weighing 215 kilograms, as well as the largest male python of a record 16 feet and 140 kilograms.
Pythons may not be poisonous but their bite hurts
According to the Florida Museum website, small individual pythons are usually not dangerous to people or pets.
Big Burmese pythons have large, sharp teeth, and their bites can cause severe tears.
➤ The Floridian Python Hunter describes Python bite: “Like the mouth of hypodermic needles”
“They are like the mouth of hyperderma needles,” is the way Python Hunter Amy Sieo described a python bite.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Pythons in Florida Digest Skeletons with bone-test-cell