Swamp Bones Read Online Free

slowed a bit. I took advantage to ask at almost normal volume, “How’d they multiply so fast?”
    “Burmese are generalists, able to adapt to a variety of habitats,” Lundberg prattled on, unimpeded by the need to shout. “So they can be more invasive. Their offspring output isprodigious, and, uncharacteristically for snakes, mothers stay with their nests and brood their eggs.”
    I thought that was what I’d heard. Much of what Lundberg said was lost to the wind as the airboat picked up speed again.
    “And the ladies are about as picky as one-legged whores,” Yellen added. “One decides a boy python is hot, bam, you’ve got a brood.”
    “How big do Burmese pythons get?” Not sure I wanted to know.
    “The Burmese is one of the largest snake species. In the wild, females can grow up to eighteen feet, males up to fourteen. In captivity some reach twenty.”
    Regular meals, I assumed. Didn’t ask what unfortunate creatures that entailed.
    “A south Florida water-quality maintenance crew just bagged their second eighteen-footer this year,” Yellen said. “Dragged out of a canal in the hammocks, north of Tamiami.”
    “Hammocks?” I’d been wondering about the term since first hearing it.
    “Hardwood hammocks.” Of course Lundberg demanded more precision. “Little islands in the swamp. The hammocks provide dry broadleaf habitat a few inches above the elevation of the water.”
    “That’s where we’re headed,” Pierce threw in.
    “How long’s the boat?” I cracked.
    “Sixteen feet.” Either Lundberg was deadpan or he didn’t get the joke.
    “You say pythons never attack humans?” Just making conversation. No reason I asked.
    “One can never say never,” Lundberg backpedaled. “But most prefer to avoid trouble, will withdraw if allowed.”
    “Yeah? What about the guy got turned into Flat Stanley last month?”
    Lundberg leaned forward to shout past me at Yellen. “Precisely the stupidity I was talking about! That was a domestic. The result of improper handling. Burmese are one of the most docile of all pet snakes. Which they should
never
be.”
    “You blaming the vic?” Yellen yelled back.
    “Pythons have an acute sense of smell, and the mere presence of food can trigger a feeding frenzy. You don’t uncage a twenty-foot constrictor with a live chicken nearby!”
    “What’s their preferred prey in the wild?” I jumped in to defuse tension.
    “Pythons are voracious and indiscriminate eaters, I will admit.” Lundberg pointedlyaddressed his answer to only me. “The species is consuming indigenous mammals at an alarming rate, especially those that forage near water. Ninety-nine percent of the raccoon and opossum populations have disappeared from the park, especially the southernmost regions, where pythons have been established the longest. Rabbits and fox have vanished completely.”
    Bunnies? I was beginning to agree with Yellen.
    Lundberg failed to notice my reaction. “Lisa has identified twenty-five different bird species in python guts, including the endangered wood stork. The mammals and birds are unaccustomed to being hunted by pythons, so they lack the appropriate instinctual defenses.”
    “Because the damn pythons aren’t supposed to be here,” Yellen snapped.
    “Neither are New Yorkers, but we can’t keep them out,” Lundberg spat back. To me, “Some populations may actually be benefiting, like turtles. Without raccoons to eat their eggs, we’ll be knee-deep in turtles in twenty years.”
    “Do pythons have no predators?”
    “Alligators do some damage, but once the snakes get large, the gators are no match. In fact, the two species compete for the same resources.”
    “I’ve seen a python split itself open from eating a six-foot gator,” Pierce offered from across the boat.
    “The Burmese’s only real threat walks on two legs,” Yellen agreed.
    “Yet you’re not a fan of the hunt,” I said.
    Yellen shook his head. “Rednecks wading into the swamp shooting