Florida’s Burmese python problem isn’t going away anytime soon. The researchers, snake trackers, and other conservationists working to remove the giant snakes will be the first to tell you that eradicating this invasive species isn’t a realistic goal. That hasn’t kept them from trying to manage the problem, though, and scientists are now working on a new and futuristic approach to finding and removing pythons: robotic bunny rabbits.
Researchers at the University of Florida are hoping these robo-bunnies can be another tool in the python toolbox, similar to the highly successful scout-snake method that has been honed by wildlife biologists at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. Only instead of using GPS-collared male pythons to lead them to the females, trackers would use the robots to bring the invasive snakes to them. These are stuffed toys that have been retro-fitted with electrical components so they can be remotely controlled. The robots also have tiny cameras that sense movement and notify researchers, who can then check the video feed to see if a python has been lured in.
The University’s experiments with robotic rabbits are ongoing, according to the Palm Beach Post, and the research is being funded by the South Florida Water Management District — the same government agency that pays bounties to licensed snake removal experts and hosts the Florida Python Challenge every year.
“Our partners have allowed us to trial these things that may sound a little crazy,” wildlife ecologist and UF project leader Robert McCleery told the Post. “Working in the Everglades for ten years, you get tired of documenting the problem. You want to address it.”
McCleery said that in early July, his team launched a pilot study with 40 robotic rabbits spread out across a large area. These high-tech decoys will be monitored as the team continues to learn and build on the experiment. (As one example, McCleery explained that incorporating rabbit scents into the robots could be worth consideration in the future.)
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The idea of using bunnies as decoys made sense for the team at UF, since rabbits, and specifically marsh rabbits, are some of the favorite prey items for Burmese pythons. Recent studies (including one authored by McCleery) have shown the massive declines in the Everglades’ marsh rabbit populations that can be directly attributed to pythons.
“Years ago we were hearing all these claims about the decimation of mesomammals in the Everglades. Well, this researcher thought that sounded far-fetched, so he decided to study it,” says Ian Bartoszek, a wildlife biologist and python tracker based in Naples. “So, he got a bunch of marsh rabbits, put [GPS] collars on them, and then he let them go in the core Everglades area … Within six months, 77 percent of those rabbits were found inside the bellies of pythons. And he was a believer after that.”
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