Select photographic sequence (top) and associated temperature data (bottom) over time throughout the brooding and hatching of a Burmese python (Python bivittatus) nest inside a concrete pipe located within the Greater Everglades Ecosystem of Florida, USA

Select photographic sequence (top) and associated temperature data (bottom) over time (23 May 2022 through 2 August 2022) throughout the brooding and hatching of a Burmese python (Python bivittatus) nest inside a concrete pipe located within the Greater Everglades Ecosystem of Florida, USA. Photograph letters correspond with bottom graph's black vertical lines topped by the same letters. (A) Python tracked to an area of abandoned construction pipes. (B) We placed three sets of paired temperature dataloggers between the python's coils (in clutch), next to the nest (clutch proximal), and at 40 cm from the python's coils on floor of pipe (clutch distal). Graphical temperature lines shown with 95% confidence buffers. Gray vertical bands indicate significant timeframes as labeled. While brooding, the python shifts her coils and contracts longitudinal muscles, causing the nest temperatures to increase (shivering thermogenesis; B, C, D, E, F at ~33°C; J, K, L at ~31°C; McBride et al., 2025). (C, F) Twice the wildlife camera captures a Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) entering the pipe and quickly exiting and (E, G, K) also captures the python yawning. (I) When the python temporarily leaves her clutch (H) after biologists enclose the nest pipe, temperatures drop to ~27°C. (M) On 13 July, the python uncoils and leaves the clutch. (N, O, P) Six days later, the clutch begins to hatch in the pipe and temperatures increase nearly two degrees to ~29°C. Refer to Table 1 for additional timeline descriptions. The entire sequence of photographs may be viewed in MP4 video format in Video S1. Photographs are credited to USGS and were captured in Big Cypress National Preserve within the Greater Everglades Ecosystem, Florida, USA. From Currylow and others (2025).