Posted by: Loren Coleman on May 10th, 2008
Some studies indicate that due to projected climate change, pythons will be a common feature of the “alien wildlife” in San Francisco by the year 2020.
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Sooo, wait… I’m a little lost here. San Fran has the climate already, and someone is saying that it will take 12 years for the snake to get there? Sorry, there wasn’t much said in the article, and the map only showed that the green fills in little corners of states (not much changed). Is this the python that is destroying Hawaii’s ecosystem?
Folks in San Francisco shouldn’t worry too much though…
‘Cause the world is gonna end on dec. 21, 2012 anyway!!
*evil grin*
I’m more worried about “Killer” bees.
You understand that this is just a scare tatic? How are pythons going to get here? There are not enough boerd python owners too create an invasion.
They’re already there. Who doesn’t believe that amateur herpetologists and enthusiasts haven’t discovered their pet pythons missing on plenty of occasions. The bounty in slow witted family pets, racoons and other suitable foods are adequate and the climate, on those occasions where it does get chilly, is never sever enough to kill a fill sized constrictor who’d wait it out beneatht he leaves and detritus that border almost every suburban street in the Bay Area. I personally know of one incident in which a friend who was snake enthusiast actually found a 9 foot boa in San Carlos ten years ago.
cool , they’re edible right? Can’t wait.
CamperGuy, yes, and they taste like chicken.
PMC
Just an update…I’m in the green zone in central Oklahoma. No pythons on the menu yet. If they ever get here maybe we can have Python hunting season to go along with the rattlesnake round-ups.
Climate does not equal habitat.
Unless these rampaging pythons are going to grow massive on a diet of rodents, there’s not much to worry about in the Southwest. Rattlers will easily out-compete them.
I once heard that Florida, as a subtropical environment, may be regarded as the “capital” of introduced species in the western hemisphere (both plants and animals). So, if there are shifts related to bioclimatic zones, it would be much more than the Asian pythons that would have expanded habitat. However, these “negatively charismatic” species would understandably be of the highest concern to people.
It must be noted that, although these are regarded as “alien” or “invasive” species, they are really human-assisted introductions. In addition to these, the genuinely native species of the tropical and subtropical environments would also likely show expanded range, in the case of these climate change / global warming scenarios (whether natural, anthropogenic or a combination of both). The unfortunate reality is that the biota do not respect man-made administrative boundaries, and would respond to climatic (and therefore habitat) shifts, regardless of whether we decide that they are supposed to be there or not. This brings back the question of wildlife and natural resource management schemes and their ideas of what is considered to be a “normal” part of the ecosystem. While these species are regarded as “alien” or “invasive” does that have any basis in a practical reality or is it simply an administrative / management conceptualization?
While humanity tends to pride itself with the idea of being the highest species in terms of being modifier, controller and adapter of nature, the fact remains that this power is neither absolute nor even especially dominant; the will of the Earth’s natural environment – defined by its dynamic complex of linkages, synergies and interactions among the processes, components and sub-systems of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere – will always prevail.