Journalistic Intentions Writings

Slithering,

Reference;

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/video-bobcat-burmese-python-florida-everglades/

Wikipedia

Written By Judith D. (Apondia)

Sssssssssss! I was jussst hatched. Sssshed my first sssskin,just before I broke the egg skin with my egg tooth. When a poacher sssscooped me up. The South Eassst Asssia native put me in a crate. Mother tried to wrap herself around the poacher. The man was able to avoid her advances. Other ssssibling hatchlingsss were also in the crate. We resssted in the dark. I could sssssense the heat with my lower lip. I did not feel hungry. Just before I wasss caught, I made my firssst kill a sssssmall mouse in the underbrush of the marssssh.

After the crate I lived in a glasss tank. Humans walked by, they tapped on the glassss. I watched docilly. There was no sound because I am mute and deaf. I could sense some tapping with my tongue.

Then, a human predator pointed a finger right at me. I was scooped out of the tank and put in a small box. The box wasss barely big enough for my 20-inch length, so I curled up. Then, I wasss put in another tank. A moussse was dropped into the tank. My jaw unhinged to make my mouth larger. I caught it in my mouth with my back facing, sharp teeth, then sssswallowed it whole. Every few days a live moussse fell into my tank. Yummy.

Daily I was lifted out of the tank by the two-legged predator. I was allowed to swim in the warm waters of the white pond. It was pleasant but, I missed the deep marsh grasses, sunning on rocks, and sleeping under the marsh brush. I'm a creature that thrives in water so, I looked forward to swimming in the white pond. Often, I was able to crawl around on smooth land that rested near my glass enclosure.

How many days passed? Mice turned into small rats for sustenance. I grew. Now, I was about 4 foot in length, ready to shed another skin. I could smell a change of excitement in the two-legged predator.

The predator loaded me into a box. I tried to climb the ssssides when the lid closed but, they were very ssssmooth. The movement of the journey caused me to curl up in the dark enclosure and wait for whatever the change brought to my life. I was dumped out into brush. I quickly, sssslithered away into undergrowth looking for a place to hide. I never saw the predator, the smooth grass land, or the white pond again.

Now I lived and grew in a wet marsssh land. I warmed my sssself in the hot sunshine. Sssslept in the tall grassses or under bushes or in hollow trees.

I sssslithered into the waters of the marsssh. Laid on the muddy bottom, ssssoaking for up to 30 minutes at a time. I can do that, go without air in water for that long of a time.

Now, I wasss a real predator. My lidless yellow eyes frighten prey. I ate baby alligatorsss, ssssmall birdsss, sssmall animals. Curling mysssself around them. Hanging on to them, with my pretensile tail. I ssssqueezed until they sssssuffocated. I grew. I ssshed ssskinsss. I love it here. I'm nocturnal, I hunt at night. When prey likes to sleep.

At the age of three years, a male slithered by, we mated. I laid a clutch of 12 eggs. Later in life, I could lay larger clutches as I grew and developed myssself. I curled myself around the clutch and instinctively made trembling movements with my body that raised the air temperature within the clutch to shelter and warm the eggs.

The hatchlings when mature broke their way out of the shell with an egg tooth just as I had done. After a short time, they were crawling out into the undergrowth and marsh grass hunting their firssst kill. The dark patches outlined by black and yellow are similar to the markings on a giraffe and aid the Phythons, The colors work to camoflage them.

When I first arrived in this marsssh, I was small enough I could climb into a tree and drop onto prey from above. Now, I'm 7 feet long and heavy in my girth. It is harder to climb with my bulk. I raissse at leassst two clutchesss a year. There are many more of my kind in the marssshes. We love it here. such a nice place to raissse a family.

The Burmese Python, is classified by the ULCN as: vulnerable, with members decreasing in its' natural habitat. It used to be a subspecies of another type of Python.

Since its' introduction into Everglades National Park in Florida it has grown into thousands of snakes.
So, many the park is unable to keep up with the ability to eradicate the growing population. The large population of the snakes has caused it to be considered a species in its' own right.

Other species in the park are now endangered from the predation of the Burmese Python.

Introduction of the Pythons is blamed on the pet trade. Pet ownership of these snakes is now regulated by the state.

Other species in the park are now endangered from the predation of the Burmese Python.

One particular predator, the bobcat, is known to catch and eat the young Pythons. The Pythons have few predators, to help control their growing populations. There are thousands of them in the park. Park rangers have hired groups of people who regularly hunt and humanly destroy the snakes in the park. Hunters earn a bounty for every Python caught and destroyed.

From subspecies, to species, from vulnerable to producing thousands, from homeland to invasive species; the Burmese Python is considered invasive in some other countries as well.
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