A male bobcat was recently seen on trail cam film raiding and d.es.troying an invasive B.urmese python’s nest, then b.at.ting at the reptile when she returned to protect the offspring, according to biologists. The incident is said to be the first time an animal in the Florida Everglades has fought back a.gai.nst a python.
The brave 20-pound bobcat returns to the nest numerous times to check and feast on the eggs, according to footage obtained by the US Geological Survey at Big Cypress National Preserve. When he returned to see the serpent on the nest on one occasion, he initially steered clear. The wild cat was witnessed swiping at the nesting python in an a.tte.mpt to retrieve her eggs a few days later, so he must have been anxious for a meal.
“While the python is gone, the male bobcat can be seen ‘eating, trampling, caching, and uncovering the eggs’ over the course of many days,” according to the USGS paper, “but also confronting the much bigger snake and fighting blows on at least one occasion.”
The nest had been completely d.eva.stated when biologists returned three days later, with 42 of the python’s eggs described as “inviable and d.estroyed.” Dr. Andrea Currlow’s research has since been published in Ecology and Evolution.
