The reported narrow DNA profile of the Glades pythons is very interesting. I'm waffling between two theories:

Super Burm Nature Theory: My original theory was based on the RI problems I had years ago keeping mutant burms and heard others report more recently. I figured humidity was a factor (the Everglades being much better for Burms than I could provide in Colorado) but could that fully explain why we struggle with captive Burmese pythons and slight chills while they apparently thrive in the Everglades? Also weighing heavily is the VPI report of keeping large Burms in indoor/outdoor cages in south TX and seeing no apparent thermoregulation instinct to avoid cold. The captive reports got me wondering if the founders of the Everglades population where from a special locality as different from the captive morph burm population as say Argentine boas from other boas. Maybe the reason we don't hear of morph burms in the Everglades is that all other lines of Burms that happen to find themselves loose in Florida die out each winter and the Everglades strain is from a marginally tropical location where they evolved some cold avoidance instincts over millennia. That is, the Everglades burms are super burms much better genetically adapted to cool but still just barely able to hang on only in South Florida (i.e. the only marginally tropical part of the US). If there is new blood coming into the Glades it's likely of a more solidly tropical descendent line (why would a Central Thai or Vietnamese line need instincts for cold avoidance?) that has no concept of cold and doesn't survive long enough to breed.

The Numbers Nurture Theory: This is what I remember from a conversation with someone who knows a lot more than me on both Burmese and Florida. Basically it's that if you release any (other than an albino) baby burm it will have the opportunity to learn thermoregulation in a non optimal but still tropical climate. They still can't learn to survive north of maybe I75 but even south of there they need to learn to hide from the coldest nights. Also that our captive breeding conditions aren't nearly as good as we think they are. Small cages (relative to adult burm size) and bad air quality cause the captive respiratory problems. Something about the Everglades (the space, the clean air, maybe even exercise or varied diet but I don't think those last two where mentioned) is actually better even with seasonally cool South Florida nights for Burmese health than what we provide in captivity. You would still need to release a huge number of baby Burmese for enough to survive the thermoregulation learning curve on the very edge of the tropical zone and massive predation to reach breeding size. Here enters the hurricane release of 900 imported hatchlings; maybe only 5 or 6 of those made it to breeding size and those are the founders of the Everglades population. Another aspect of this theory of explaining the narrow Everglades genetics was that the Everglades are too far for irresponsible pet keepers to bother driving to dump there unwanted pets (which probably wouldn't be babies young enough to learn to avoid cold nights or if small would most likely all be eaten without large numbers of siblings also rolling dice against those odds).

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Hide Replies ]