The voracious appetite of the invasive Burmese python is causing Florida’s mammal and bird populations to plummet. With little natural competition to control the numbers of the great snake, the situation looks desperate. But new sightings suggest the bobcat, a feral cat native to Florida, may be able to help.
A team of ecologists recently collected evidence of a bobcat devouring python eggs in Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve, and reported their findings last month in the journal Ecology and Evolution. It’s hard to say whether this individual cat was more adventurous than the average bobcat, but it suggests one possible way the python’s proliferation could be limited — by other animals eating their unhatched young.
The event was captured by a motion-sensing camera that a team led by Andrea Currylow, an ecologist with the US Geological Survey, deployed near the nest of a large female Burmese python in June 2021. The camera was placed to better understand the reproductive biology of these huge snakes. A few hours after installation, the snake slipped and the camera captured pictures of a bobcat arriving in the early evening and eating python eggs.
“We were completely knocked out,” said Dr. curry low. “We had no idea that these snakes’ nests were being ransacked.”
Apparently, the cat decided he’d rather have what he found, because he came back three times that night for another snack. The next morning, the bobcat returned to store uneaten eggs in the ground to consume at a later date. That evening the bobcat came back, but this time the python was back on her nest. Weighing in at around 20lbs, the cat was clearly aware that the 115lb python posed a serious threat and instead of trying to eat more eggs, it rummaged around the nest for a few minutes at a safe distance before leaving. .
The next night, the camera captured a photo of the two predators in a confrontation. Apparently the bobcat thought the clutch was worth fighting for, as it returned in the morning and worsened the python enough to provoke an attack. The strike, which missed the cat, triggered the camera. So did a counterattack from the bobcat, which swung its claws at the huge reptile.
It’s unclear exactly how the duel ended, but when investigators arrived that evening to retrieve the camera, they found the snake on a badly damaged nest.
“We thought the snake caused the damage itself by somehow crushing its own eggs,” said Dr. Currylow, “but then we saw the pictures and, well, it was just incredible.”
The researchers removed the snake and analyzed the nest in detail. They found that 42 eggs had been destroyed and 22 were damaged but possibly viable. They collected these eggs and incubated them. None hatched.
While it’s possible that this interaction was just an isolated incident, it’s also possible that native species are beginning to respond to the python’s presence.
“Most cat species adjust their diet to what’s available, so bobcats predating on python eggs isn’t really that surprising,” said Mathias Tobler, a wildlife ecologist with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.
Reptile eggs are already part of the Florida bobcat diet. Bobcats are known to eat sea turtle eggs, and they may have similarities to python eggs.
“Egg hunting in bobcats is really a learned behavior,” said Dr. tobler. “Once some individuals figure out how to hunt python eggs, they may be able to do this quite regularly.”
The big difference between python nests and those of sea turtles is, of course, that the snake nests are usually guarded. But dr. Currylow also points out that female pythons usually go without food until their eggs are about to hatch. That is perhaps the main reason why the bobcat has survived its adventure.
Whether these felines will eat enough eggs to turn the tide against the python invasion remains to be seen.
