Aaron Mann has earned recognition in South Florida for capturing 87 Burmese pythons, an invasive species threatening the delicate ecosystem of the Everglades. These giant snakes prey on native wildlife, including birds, mammals, and reptiles, disrupting the food chain for natural predators like panthers, bobcats and raptors.

Burmese pythons have terrorized the Florida Everglades for years. Scientists are hoping robotic bunnies will end the reptile's reign over the region.

Burmese pythons, one of the world’s largest snakes, are also one of the most problematic invasive species in South Florida. First spotted in the Florida Everglades in the 1970s, the snakes were introduced, either accidentally or intentionally, through the exotic pet trade.

That amounts to a fifth of all the pythons caught in the challenge this year and triple the number that last year’s winner took home. The challenge does not represent a “bloodlust for pythons”, says Michael Kirkland,

There’s mounting evidence Everglades pythons can migrate north and west from South Florida. Have they invaded Palm Beach County?

The Burmese python — an apex predator that can grow over 18 feet long and eat animals larger than itself — has decimated native wildlife throughout much of South Florida. Its presence is directly linked to plummeting populations of small mammals and birds across vast stretches of the Everglades.

Alison Joslyn was riding along when she spotted an alligator in the water, with its jaws clamped firmly around a supersized Burmese python. She stopped to watch as the gator wrestled the snake, working it through its 80 teeth in order to swallow the apex predator whole.

Footage shot in the Florida Everglades shows a large alligator gliding through water with a massive Burmese python clutched in its jaws. Local media outlet WPLG-TV reported Alison Joslyn was riding her bike in the Shark Valley area on Friday, Aug, 8, when she noticed the reptiles in the water.