Florida's ongoing battle with invasive Burmese pythons has gone high tech, with wildlife teams now deploying robotic rabbits to help find and capture the elusive snakes. The solar-powered, remote-controlled decoys look and smell like marsh rabbits—favored python prey—and even emit heat signatures to lure the snakes out of hiding, per ABC News. Outfitted with cameras, the devices alert authorities to python activity, prompting wranglers to respond and remove the predators. The effort is funded by the South Florida Water Management District as part of its broader Python Elimination Program.
University of Florida researchers, with support from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, designed and built the robot rabbits, replacing the stuffing in 40 toy bunnies with electronics protected against Florida's wet climate. "Working in the Everglades for 10 years, you get tired of documenting the problem," University of Florida wildlife ecology professor Robert McCleery tells the Palm Beach Post, via the Independent. "You want to address it."
Burmese pythons, once imported for the pet trade, now reside across more than 1,000 square miles in South Florida, with detection rates stubbornly low—only about 1% to 3% in surveyed areas. The snakes have been linked to steep declines in native mammals and birds since the first established breeding populations emerged in 2000, and they've even been found swallowing deer and alligators whole.
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The team's novel approach follows a string of creative python-hunting strategies in recent years: detector dogs, live rabbits in cages, and tracking devices on prey animals and male snakes. Experts caution that eradication of the Burmese python is unlikely, but hope remains that technology like the robotic rabbits will help reduce python numbers. "Every python that is removed and eliminated is making a difference to protect the Everglades and South Florida's diverse and native wildlife," the SFWMD notes in a statement.
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