The invasive Burmese Pythons are destroying the Florida Everglades ecosystem, but lately, more and more methods are being devised to control their population. Robotic bunnies, designed by researchers at the University of Florida, are one of these methods.
95% of small mammals have been eliminated by these snakes in Everglades National Park, according to officials, and many Florida animal populations have been damaged as a result of them. Their ability to reproduce quickly and lay many eggs makes them a danger to native species. Females lay 50-100 eggs at a time, so the pythons spread quickly. They’re also often released by citizens when they get too big to be kept as pets. It is illegal to own a Burmese Python or release it into the wild in Florida.
The fake rabbits are actually just retrofitted stuffed animals, designed by a team led by Department of Biology Assistant Professor, Chris Dutton. The stuffing is taken out, and replaced by heaters, and, to mimic a real bunny, they emit a smell that pythons can detect. Motors and solar panels are attached, creating a device that moves the stuffed animal as if it were real prey.
Cameras are placed near, and when a snake is detected, a team can be dispatched to the location to go and remove the snake. “Removing them is fairly simple,” Mike Kirkland, the lead invasive species biologist at the The South Florida Water Management District, said. “It’s detection. “We’re having a really hard time finding them,” Kirkland said.
The traps are not designed to kill the invasive pythons, but to actually locate them. The tall grasses of the Everglades provide the perfect ecosystem for Burmese Pythons to hide, thrive, and reproduce. “They’re so well camouflaged in the field,” Kirkland said.
The research team, a group made up of University of Florida researchers and Florida Water District officials, released 120 rabbits over the summer to test how well the traps work. Before this, Kirkland and the team made an attempt to use live rabbits as bait for the snakes, but according to him, it became too expensive. Even with the cost of a trap being $4,000, the cost is cheaper than real rabbits, Kirkland noted.
The water district is financing this project, and this is just the latest in a long list of their efforts to combat invasive species and preserve the Everglades ecosystem. They even hold an annual contest called the Florida Python Challenge that gives out large cash prizes to the people that can capture the most or the biggest Burmese Pythons over the course of around a week.
According to Kirkland, this project is in its early stages, and we can’t tell right now whether it’s making an effect, but initial results show reason for optimism. “This part of the project is in its infancy,” Kirkland said. “We are confident though, that this will work once we are given enough time to work out the details.”
