A record-breaking python caught in Florida measured in at 17.7 feet, 215 pounds. The beast was trapped in the Everglades and is the largest ever found outside its native habitat.
Pythons are native to Southeast Asia. They’re an invasive species in Florida. They were brought there in the 1970s, likely in the exotic pet trade.
Following its capture, an autopsy found that the female snake had hoof cores in its digestive tract, meaning her last meal was a white-tailed deer.
The snake was also carrying a “record number” of 122 eggs, meaning she was a reproductively active female. During a necropsy, the record-breaking python’s head measured nearly six inches from the tip of her snout to the back of her skull. The widest part of her body measured 25 inches.