Pythons in the Park

In the Times' Science section, Andy Revkin reports on the Everglades' thriving population of Burmese pythons, byproduct of the exotic pet trade. The alien snakes have proven pretty adaptable and indomitable in their South Florida surroundings, eating "everything from very small mammals — native cotton mice, native cotton rats, rabbits, squirrels, possums, raccoons, even a bobcat," to "wading birds and water birds, pied-billed grebes, coots, egrets, limpkins and at least one big alligator." Park personnel are using a snake-sniffing beagle (the fearless Python Pete) to ferret out female snakes in a clever ploy aimed at eradicating the ravenous reptiles.

As Revkin notes, while snakeheads and snakes may have a lock on our attention, the problem of invasive species isn't limited to our shores. Au contraire: American bullfrogs have taken up digs in France, even as our native crawdads are colonizing Asian rivers.