Between 1994 and 2011, Florida imported around 160,000 Burmese pythons from Vietnam.
The total number amounted to around 300,000.
A significant portion of these Burmese pythons grew beyond two meters and were released by the families that kept them.
By 2012, the local government discovered that these pythons, massively released or escaped from households, had unknowingly become the rulers of Florida.
Burmese pythons rely on constriction to eat their prey; juveniles can consume 110% of their body weight, while adults can eat prey weighing 50% of their body weight.
This weight class, in Florida's swamp-based ecosystem, has no competitors.
The other dominant predator of Florida, the alligator, struggles to prey on Burmese pythons, but the pythons can easily hunt juvenile alligators.
Even alligators can't deal with Burmese pythons, making the situation worse for other animals.
