Free Republic

In an case of real life imitating Hollywood, the US scientific community is increasingly concerned that two nonnative python breeds currently slithering free in south Florida could morph into a giant man-eating swamp coil. The capture of five African rock pythons recently near an Everglades already teeming with the gentler Burmese pythons has scientists worried about so-called "hybrid vigor" – a phenomenon that occurs when interbreeding uncorks volatile recessive genes, passing traits such as aggression onto the offspring. Think Africanized bees. The two species have interbred in captivity. While Burmese pythons aren't known to eat people in their native habitat,...

Preliminary autopsy results on two New Brunswick boys who were killed after an African rock python escaped its enclosure in Campbellton, N.B., show they died from asphyxiation, RCMP say. The pathologist completed the autopsies on Noah and Connor Barthe on Tuesday. "At least right now we have a cause of death. Even though we still need some reports from the pathologist to be forwarded, that's going to help the investigation to move forward," RCMP Sgt. Alain Tremblay told CBC News. Tremblay said in a statement that police are aware the case has "touched the hearts of people across the world"...

Already squeezed by the invasion of the giant Burmese python, Florida now faces what one scientist calls one of the U.S. state's "worst nightmares. Africa's largest snake—the ill-tempered, 20-foot-long (6.1-meter-long) African rock python—is colonizing the U.S. state, new discoveries suggest.