The largest Burmese python ever caught in Florida set another record when scientists carved it open last Friday: most eggs.
Florida Museum of Natural History researchers gutted the 164.5-pound, 17.5-foot beast to discover 87 future baby pythons, the most ever found in a pregnant Florida python. The weight and egg count beat the old Everglades National Park records of 16.8 feet and 85 eggs, respectively, reports CNN.
The eggs look like big cheese balls coated in sticky marinara sauce. Yum.
This species is invasive to the Everglades, and with no natural predators has proliferated to numbers perhaps in the hundreds of thousands. Scientists feel no guilt about murdering the snake babies and consider such research vital to curbing the snake’s dominance of the food chain. Park biologist Skip Snow tells CNN:
There are not many records of how many eggs a large female snake carries in the wild. This shows they’re a really reproductive animal, which aids in their invasiveness.
And now for a disgusting picture of eggs carved out of a snake’s insides: