Article posted Wednesday, August 20, 2014 3:02pm

A Burmese Python in the Florida Everglades. National Park Service photo.

Burmese Pythons are mostly found primarily in the Everglades area, but they have been caught as far north as Gainesville and as far south as Key West in Florida. Recently it was discovered that they have homing instincts. Researchers captured 12 snakes and outfitted them with radio transmitters. Six were transported 13 to 22 miles away from the point of capture; the others were released locally. Five of the six snakes released miles away returned to the area where they were captured. It took them six months, in part because they were less active when the temperature dropped, but in general they followed a relatively straight path back to the capture site. It was also discovered that the snakes heading home moved faster, in general, than those released locally. It was as if they knew where they were going. It is not known whether the pythons used their sense of smell, sunlight or perception of the earth’s magnetic field to find their way home. (Biology Letters, 2014, March 19)