As part of its python elimination effort, a group of scientists recently captured the largest python ever discovered in the US state of Florida.

Also Read: Battle of the reptiles: alligator tries to shred python into two during fight

The Burmese python caught in the Everglades was approximately 5.5 meters (18 feet) long and weighed 97.5 kilograms(215 pounds), according to a press conference held by the Conservancy of Southwest Florida on Wednesday. According to the experts, Florida is home to an invasive species of the female serpent.

Here is a Twitter post by an essayist Amy Bennett Williams describing the snake.

The reptile had hoof cores in its digestive tract, according to a necropsy (autopsy of an animal) performed after capture. The necropsy also implied that a tailed deer was probably its last meal. The snake was found to be carrying a “record number” of 122 eggs, according to the examination.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the majority of Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) found in Florida are between 1.8 and 3 m(6 and 10 feet)  long, despite the fact that in their native habitats in Southeast Asia, the snakes regularly reach  5.4 m long (18 feet), and the largest can reach lengths of 6 m (20 feet)) or more. The IUCN Red List classifies them as Vulnerable. 

  Also Read: Two peas in a pod: Lion and dog strike up a friendship in Rajkot

The invasive pythons have successfully reproduced in Florida’s southern areas since they were first introduced there in the 1970s. American Magazine Field and Stream asserts that the 1992 hurricane Andrew, which damaged a Burmese python breeding facility and resulted in the release of hundreds of snakes into the wild, is to blame for the species’ explosive development in Florida.

To find this snake, the wildlife biologists disclosed their use of a novel study method that directs male snakes to breeding grounds where “big, fertile females” can be removed to prevent their eggs from hatching in the wild.