swallowing hard in florida

Now that giant Burmese pythons are breeding and growing more numerous in the Everglades, the US has gotten around to banning importation of these fearsome serpents, which are known to eat native species as large as adult deer and even alligators.

Noting that years of efforts to eradicate the snakes from the Everglades have failed, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the ban this past Tuesday, along with prohibitions on African pythons and the South American anaconda.

The one documented case in which a python was known to have swallowed a full-grown, six-foot alligator ended with the snake dying of indigestion.

Other foreign-originated species infesting the subtropical parts of Florida include a small dragon, the Nile monitor lizard, and African rats the size of raccoons.

Reuters has the whole story.