17-foot-long female python caught using male pythons; picture goes viral

A picture of the female python, where she was being held by a team of four, was shared on the official Facebook page of the national preserve. “She is the largest python ever removed from Big Cypress National Preserve — and she was caught because of research and a new approach to finding pythons,” read the post, which went viral with over eight thousand shares.

The research team used male pythons with radio transmitters and tracked them to help locate breeding females. Moreover, not only does the team remove the invasive snakes but they also collect data to develop to learn how the snakes are using the preserve and develop new removal tools. “The team tracked one of the sentinel males with the transmitter and found this massive female nearby.”

“The eggs were destroyed and the snake was euthanized,” Rita Garcia, a spokeswoman for Big Cypress Preserve told Fox News.