This story of the Burmese pythons seems like an appropriate metaphor for our time.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Snakes in the grass

Burmese pythons, which can grow up to 23ft (7m) long, eat small mammals, birds and alligators.

BBC: Python challenge: Florida holds snake hunting contest

The Florida Everglades are reeling from an explosion in the number of deadly Burmese pythons.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Snakes in the grass

State wildlife officials say there may be as many as 100, 000 Burmese pythons living in the vast swamps outside Miami.

CNN: February 17, 2013 -- Updated 0214 GMT (1014 HKT)

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has banned the importation of Burmese pythons, along with three other exotic snake species and their eggs.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

That raises the possibility that Burmese pythons might better cope with cold conditions in the future, particularly snakes that are better adapted genetically to the cold.

BBC: Earth News - Cold snap in Florida halts advancing python snakes

Knowing such itineraries might help us to better understand the nature of massive die-offs (thousands of black birds falling dead out of the sky, for example), or of the itineraries of bio-invasives such as the Burmese Pythons in the Everglades.

FORBES: The Murky Future of Conservation