By: Claire the Bear Chen

On June 22, 2022, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida told everyone about their new catch: a female python weighing a startling 215 pounds in the Everglades National Park. At about 18 feet long, it broke the record of the heaviest Burmese python ever found, with the second place going to a 185-pound specimen captured in Naples, Florida in 2021.

Further examination found that she was carrying 122 developing eggs, the most ever found in a breeding cycle.

Biologists also found a poor adult white-tailed deer inside of the snake’s belly. These deer are important food to an endangered panther species, who call the Everglades home.

A male python called Dionysus or Dion was tracked with a radio transmitter to lead the biologists to the humongous snake. Male pythons are attracted only to the biggest and best female pythons. When Dion went to the same spot for many weeks, the biologists suspected he was meeting a female. Dion also led them to 4 other pythons that year.