Burmese pythons — one of the world’s largest snakes — are the most problematic invasive species of South Florida. First spotted in the Everglades in the 1970s, the snakes were introduced, either accidentally or intentionally, through the exotic pet trade. Since then, pythons have become top predators in the local food ecosystem. Despite the fact that they now exist throughout much of South Florida, they remain difficult to track down. That means researchers and conservationists need to find creative ways to lure them out into the open……….REALLY creative. Researchers at the University of Florida Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Center have released 40 solar-powered, remote-controlled robot bunnies to imitate the motions and body temperatures of one of the python’s favorite snacks: marsh rabbits. Previous research had demonstrated that live, penned rabbits successfully attract pythons, but that approach requires too much manpower to care for the animals at scale. Cue the robot bunnies. They don’t need to be fed, their pens don’t need to be cleaned, they’re waterproof, and they’re decked out with a motion-sensor camera that pings researchers if a python approaches. It remains to be seen whether the pythons will be fooled. If they’re not, the researchers have another trick in their back pocket: perfuming the robots with rabbit scent.
