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18-Foot Burmese Python Caught in Florida

<p>Florida officials bagged one of the biggest Burmese pythons ever found in the state: an 18.2-foot-long (5.5 meters) female.</p>
This 18.2-foot Burmese python was killed in the Florida Everglades, about 25 miles west of Miami, on Feb. 4, 2014.
This 18.2-foot Burmese python was killed in the Florida Everglades, about 25 miles west of Miami, on Feb. 4, 2014.South Florida Water Management District

Florida officials say they've bagged one of the biggest Burmese pythons ever found in the state: an 18.2-foot-long (5.5 meters) female weighing some 150 pounds (68 kilograms).

The snake, which was shot and killed in the Everglades on Tuesday (Feb. 4), could set a record for the largest Burmese python ever seen on state-owned lands, said Randy Smith, a spokesperson for the South Florida Water Management District.

The animal, however, measures a few inches shorter than the longest-ever Burmese python found in Florida: a snake that stretched 18 feet, 8 inches (5.6 meters) long and was wrangled by a man on the side of the road in a rural part of Miami-Dade County in May 2013.

It's alarming to find Burmese pythons with such robust physique in the wilds of Florida, because the snake is considered an invasive species. Native to Southeast Asia, the nonvenomous constrictors are popular as exotic pets, and pet Burmese pythons that were released or escaped are likely responsible for establishing the breeding population that's taken hold in Florida in the past two decades. With no natural predators in the state, the snakes' numbers have exploded, and they're wiping out native wildlife like bobcats, foxes and raccoons. [See Photos of Giant Burmese Pythons in the Florida Everglades]

"You'd be hard pressed to find a rabbit or squirrel down there in the Everglades now," Smith told Live Science. "These snakes eat alligators — or they try to. They don't have any enemies and they eat anything they can get their teeth on."

The 18-foot snake was discovered on a levee about 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of Miami near the Tamiami Trail as field station workers with the Water Management District were conducting a routine levee inspection, Smith said.

-Megan Gannon, LiveScience

This is a condensed version of a report that appeared on LiveScience. Read the original report.

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