U.S. Florida deploys robot rabbit to control invasive Burmese Python population
13 days ago
- #invasive species
- #wildlife conservation
- #technology
- Florida is using robot rabbits to lure and capture invasive Burmese pythons in the Everglades.
- The robot rabbits mimic real rabbits by emitting heat, smell, and natural movements to attract pythons.
- Burmese pythons have decimated native species, eliminating 95% of small mammals in Everglades National Park.
- The snakes were introduced in the mid-90s as exotic pets and have since proliferated in the wild.
- A female python can lay 50-100 eggs at a time, with estimates of tens of thousands to 300,000 pythons in Florida.
- Florida runs a 'Python Challenge' and a Python Elimination Program to incentivize and manage python removal.
- Over 23,000 pythons have been removed since 2000, but detection remains a major challenge.
- The robot rabbit project is in early stages but shows promise for improving python detection and removal.