While conducting a study about ecological impacts of invasive pythons in Florida, researchers with the Conservancy of Southwest Florida found a nearly 15-foot-long Burmese python had swallowed a 77-pound white-tailed deer. The encounter, while unfortunate for the deer, advances understandings of what kind of threats this invasive species poses to Florida’s ecosystem: The new findings show pythons can eat larger prey than previously thought. “Watching an invasive apex predator swallow a full-sized deer in front of you is something that you will never forget,” said Ian Bartoszek, a researcher with the conservancy.