ATIVE NARRICTION NONFke fiction—
Nonfiction
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L O F RID
JOHN MITCHELL/SCIENCE SOURCE
The Snake That’s Eating
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ENORMOUS SNAKES ARE TAKING OVER ONE OF AMERICA’S MOST PRIZED WILDERNESS AREAS. CAN THEY BE STOPPED? BY LAUREN TARSHIS
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AS YOU READ, THINK ABOUT:
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How can an environment change when a new animal is introduced?
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ne January morning in 2003, a group of families was exploring Florida’s Everglades National Park—a unique and beautiful wilderness comprising 2,400 square miles of protected wetlands.
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Climate matching that of the pythons’ native habitat in Asia
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enormous appetites for live animals. Not surprisingly, many buyers soon regret their purchases. And then what? Your
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Uncle Clive might be willing to adopt the
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kitten you’re allergic to, but a 20-foot snake that eats live bunnies?
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Many people end up setting their GA ALATLANTIC ATLANTIC OCEAN OCEAN Orlandounwanted snakes loose in the wild. Orlando FLORIDA In many areas of the U.S., an Gulf of Mexico
Everglades National Park
Everglades National Park
Miami
A MATCH TO THE DEATH wonders around them—rivers
abandoned snake would die of cold or starvation—but not in Florida. The subtropical climate is ideal for pythons. And no place in Florida is more perfect for them than the
This python split open when it tried to swallow an alligator.
The visitors extolled the
Miami
Everglades.
Carried by Winds
of golden grass stretching in all directions, the songs of frogs and
naturally found in the Everglades
Burmese pythons were living and
in a mamba—a snake whose bite
popular as pets in the early 1990s.
crickets chiming in the humid air,
or anywhere in North America.
breeding in the park. The officials
can induce a fatal heart attack in a
They were cheap, just $20–$30
Everglades National Park in the
the smell of orange blossoms from
The alligator had its jaws clamped
worried that these gigantic beasts
grown man within minutes. These
a snake. Plus, Burmese pythons
mid-1990s. People wondered: Had
distant orchards. The group had
around the snake. The snake was
could have a profoundly negative
animals are readily—and legally—
are not venomous or aggressive
just a few cast-off pets made their
high hopes for the day. Perhaps
wrapped around the alligator. The
impact on the fragile environment
available for sale in the U.S.
toward humans. As babies, curled
way into this protected wilderness?
they’d see a majestic blue heron
two creatures were locked in a
of the Everglades.
into tiny coils, they look (to some
Or had the snakes reached the park
or a graceful snowy egret. Maybe
brutal death match.
people, at least) cute.
in other ways? No one was sure.
As it turned out, the visitors
Some of the visitors caught the scene on their cameras. Within days, their footage was broadcast
Then these adorable hatchlings
The Arrival The first Burmese pythons
were about to see something more
on TV stations and websites
arrived in the U.S. innocently
unusual—and horrifying—than
around the world.
enough: as pets. Americans have
they could have imagined. Not far from the park’s entrance,
To most people, this fight was
always enjoyed keeping strange,
little more than a thrilling and
beautiful, and even dangerous
they noticed a violent splashing.
gruesome show. But to many
creatures in their homes. Today,
As they approached, they saw
wildlife experts, it was a symbol
nearly 100 million Americans
a massive alligator wrestling an
of a problem—a big, slithery
own “exotic” pets—animals not
enormous snake. They would
problem.
native to our country. Want a
later learn that the snake was a Burmese python, a species not
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For years, some officials in the Everglades had been warning that
white tiger? How about a baboon? Or maybe you’re more interested
JIM MCMAHON/MAPMAN™ (MAPS); NICK GARBUTT/ NHPA/PHOTOSHOT/NEWSCOM (CAMOUFLAGED PYTHON)
endangered Florida panther.
Was it already too late?
MICHAEL BARRON/MCT/NEWSCOM (ALLIGATOR)
they’d even catch a glimpse of an
Burmese pythons became
Pythons were first sighted in
In an article in The New Yorker
grow. And grow. And grow and
magazine, writer Burkhard Bilger
grow and grow.
takes us back to 1992, when
An adult Burmese python
Hurricane Andrew slammed
can be more than 20 feet long.
into Florida. The storm was a
(That’s three times LeBron James’s
whopper—a Category 5, the strongest. It caused the deaths of 65
MASTERS OF STEALTH
Pythons rock some serious camouflage. Blending in with their surroundings allows them to more easily creep up on their prey. It also makes them difficult to find. Can you spot the python in the photo at left?
people and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses. Among the wrecked buildings was a warehouse full of exotic reptiles. Its collection included hundreds of baby Burmese pythons.
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Most of those babies died in
imported 73 Indian mongooses
the storm, but Bilger suggests that
from Jamaica, hoping the weasel-
some could have been carried
like animals would stifle the rat
away by the winds, like reptilian
population in Hawaii.
Dorothys from The Wizard of Oz.
America is being overrun by invasive species! Here are some of the worst offenders.
The plan failed, but the
The winds were blowing west that
mongooses thrived. Their
day, a straight shot from Miami to
population grew and grew. Before
the Everglades. Did a few babies
long, the mongooses had devoured
make it to the park?
so many bird eggs, rodents,
At this point, it no longer
A GALLERY OF INVADERS THE MENACE Starling
and reptiles that they were
matters how the snakes got
endangering many species. The
to the Everglades. Today their
mongoose infestation continues
population is out of control. By
even today. On some Hawaiian
some estimates, there could be
islands where the songs of birds
as many as 100,000 pythons in
once filled the air, you’re lucky to
the park. Their exact numbers are
hear a few chirps.
difficult to know because trying
This kind of ecological
to count these elusive creatures
catastrophe is what experts
would be nearly impossible. Their
fear will soon happen in the
green and brown scales provide
Everglades. Burmese pythons are
camouflage—helping them blend
prodigious breeders. A female
into their surroundings. But
can lay as many as 100 eggs in
there is no doubt that pythons
one clutch, or nest. The snakes
pose a grave threat to the fragile
are well adapted to the different
Everglades ecosystem.
areas of the park—the salty rivers,
THE SNEAK Medfly
Burmese pythons are an
forests. They eat large quantities of almost anything, including
invasive species—that is, an
reptiles, bird eggs, and sometimes
animal or a plant that is brought
even large mammals such as
into a new environment and
deer. As their numbers grow,
damages the animals and plants
pythons threaten many kinds of
that live there. An estimated 4,300
animals, including protected and
invasive species live in the U.S.,
endangered species.
with more reported each year. In some cases, the damage
THE GLUTTON
Rodents eat python eggs, but full-grown pythons are the kings
devastating. Just ask bird lovers in
and queens of the Everglades.
Hawaii. They’re still suffering from a decision made in 1883. Sugarcane farmers wanted
Some experts speculate that adding to the problem is the fact that some local wildlife may not
to get rid of the rats that were
even fear pythons. “There
harming their fields. So they
really hasn’t been a snake
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NOW WHAT?
In 1890, a businessman named Eugene Schieffelin released some 60 starlings from Europe in New York City’s Central Park.
These birds roost in hordes of up to 1 million, and they have been known to devour up to 20 tons of potatoes in one day. Their droppings can spread diseases.
Experts have tried all sorts of strategies to deal with starlings, including itching powder, electrical wires, poison, and fireworks. So far, starlings still darken the skies.
These pests feed on 250 different kinds of fruit, a nightmare for farmers, especially in agricultural areas like California.
In the U.S., monitoring programs have helped keep the medfly at bay. For example, if evidence of medflies is found on a farm or in a home garden, a quarantine is swiftly put in place to prevent spreading. Such programs cost millions of dollars a year.
Christopher Columbus brought wild pigs to the Caribbean. From there, they were brought to Florida, where early settlers let their pigs roam free. Some disappeared into the wild forever. In the 1930s, more wild pigs were imported for hunting.
Some 2.3 million pigs run wild in Texas, where they cause $400 million in damages a year. They gobble up entire crops. They feast on deer, quail, lambs, and calves. They settle in parks and on golf courses and will munch through your lawn and harass your pets.
Asian carp were brought to the U.S. in the 1970s to help keep fish farms in the South clean. (Asian carp are like vacuum cleaners, sucking up algae and other unwanted pollutants.) Flooding released them into the wild.
Asian carp dominate rivers across Mississippi and Illinois, and will likely arrive in the Great Lakes soon. They grow up to 100 pounds and eat 20–40 percent of their body weight every day. That means there isn’t enough food left for the other fish.
Wild Pig
But what eats pythons?
these “invaders” cause is
THE PROBLEM
The Mediterranean fruit fly, or medfly, comes from subSaharan Africa. It arrived in the continental United States in the 1920s, lurking inside fruit.
freshwater ponds, and thick
Invasive Species
HOW THEY GOT HERE
THE FIEND Asian Carp
Texas allows hunters to kill wild hogs year-round or capture them alive to be sold to restaurants as exotic meat.
Carp are a big food source in Asia. Experts are hoping that Americans will begin to eat carp too. So far, though, carp haven’t caught on.
SHUTTERSTOCK (STARLING, WILD PIG); PHOTO RESEARCHERS/GETTY IMAGES (MEDFLY); M. SPENCER GREEN/ AP IMAGES (ASIAN CARP); SHUTTERSTOCK (FRUIT, MEAT); MICHIGAN SEA GRANT (FISH FARMER)
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NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
SNAKE HUNTERS Snake hunters come to the Everglades and compete to catch and kill pythons, as part of an effort to control the exploding population. Prizes include $5,000 for the highest number of pythons caught and $3,000 for the longest python.
November 3, 2015
Sheepdogs to the Rescue
In Australia, sheepdogs are saving penguins from fox invaders.
in Florida for about 18 million
python sightings. A recent ban on
eventually slither off to other
years,” herpetologist Michael E.
the import of the snakes will help
parts of the country? According to
Dorcas said in an interview with
prevent new pet pythons from
a recent article in The New York
Yale Environment 360. In other
being abandoned in the wild.
Times, some scientists predict that
In 2013, the Florida Fish
pythons may one day inhabit one
words, animals that don’t see pythons as a threat are easy prey.
What Can Be Done? The python invasion of the
Is it possible that pythons will
and Wildlife Conservation
third of the U.S.—maybe even
Commission began organizing
arriving in New York City by 2100.
Python Challenges—a month-long
Other experts are skeptical of
competition in which hunters
these dire forecasts.
Everglades is undoubtedly an
compete to catch Burmese
environmental crisis.
pythons. Nearly 1,600 hopefuls
remains in Florida, where, as one
So what can be done?
turned out for the first hunt,
ranger puts it, “we are at war.” And
The National Park Service has
trudging through a million acres
that war looks like that wrestling
hired scientists to track and trap
of swamp and grass searching for
match between the alligator and
snakes, and the scientists kill
stealthy pythons. So far, the hunts
the python. The struggle will go
hundreds each year. The Florida
haven’t dented the population
on for a long time, and right now,
Fish and Wildlife Conservation
significantly.
nobody can say who will win.
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For now, the python problem
•
Easy Prey Little penguins were once common in this part of Australia. When red foxes were imported for sport hunting in the
1800s, they found the tiny birds to be easy prey. The penguins’ colonies on the mainland began disappearing. When the foxes eventually made their way to Middle Island, the little penguins didn’t stand a chance. But Marsh had an idea. As a chicken farmer, he had spent many long nights guarding his chickens from those foxes. It was in the middle of one of those nights that he heard his neighbor’s dog barking and realized that the dog was scaring the foxes away. Marsh soon got a sheepdog of his own, a puppy named Ben, who quickly took to the task of guarding Marsh’s chickens. (Sheepdogs have a keen sense of territory and are vigilant against intruders, though friendly to familiar people and animals.) When the plight of Middle Island’s penguins became news, Marsh suggested using sheepdogs to protect them.
Sheepdogs (above) on Middle Island help protect little penguins (right) from hungry foxes.
Put to Work In 2006, the first sheepdog was put to work: Oddball, a daughter of Ben’s. Since then, Middle Island’s penguin population has rebounded to 150—and not one has been lost to a fox. Training the dogs for the job involves introducing them to the penguin’s distinct odor. Penguins look cute, but they smell like dead fish. The dogs are taught to treat the penguins like livestock, to be defended and not harmed. On Middle Island,
Oddball’s successors, Eudy and Tula, are still keeping foxes away, though at 8 years old, they are nearing retirement. Local groups recently raised more than $18,000 to buy and train two new pups to take their place. Oddball, now 14, is retired and lives under Marsh’s house. “She comes out when she wants to,” he said. “She doesn’t do personal appearances.”
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FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 3, 2015. COPYRIGHT 2015 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY. USED BY PERMISSION. DAVID MAURICE SMITH/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX (ALL IMAGES)
Commission asks people to report
GEORGE SKENE/ORLANDO SENTINEL/MCT/GETTY IMAGES
big enough to eat a raccoon living
By Austin Ramzy “Massacred,” read the headline in the local newspaper of Middle Island, Australia. Below it was a photograph of dead penguins and other birds. They were the latest casualties in Australia’s long history of imported species decimating native wildlife. It was October 2004, and foxes had just killed 180 penguins. By 2005, the small island’s penguin population, which had once numbered 800, was below 10. Today penguin numbers are back up, in large part thanks to a local chicken farmer known as Swampy Marsh and his strong-willed sheepdogs. The farmer’s solution was simple: Use sheepdogs to scare the foxes away.
WRITING CONTEST In a well-organized essay, explain why invasive species are a problem and some of the creative ways the problem is being addressed. Draw on “The Snake That’s Eating Florida,” the sidebars, and the newspaper article to support your answer. Send it to PYTHON CONTEST. Five winners will each get Chomp by Carl Hiaasen. See page 2 for details. GET THIS ACTIVITY ONLINE
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