How robot rabbits are saving the Everglades

Florida’s Everglades are teeming with gigantic, invasive snakes, but a fluffy, high-tech solution is poised to help.

The state is turning to robotic stuffed rabbits to help trap invasive Burmese pythons, which are disrupting the state’s fragile wetland ecosystems and harming its native species by gobbling up food sources. Florida is regularly on the hunt for the pythons due to the threat they pose to the state’s furry fauna, much of which count as prey for the huge snakes.

The University of Florida and the South Florida Water Management District developed the python-hunting tech this year, crafting remote-controlled, solar-powered stuffed rabbits that look and even smell like the real thing. The robo-rabbits also emit a realistic heat signature, sending the message to heat-sensing snakes in nearby swamps that dinner is served.

Unbeknownst to the snakes, the robotic rabbits are also equipped with cameras that scan for pythons who have taken an interest in them. When one of the invasive snakes is spotted, an alert prompts the district to send out a special python removal agent to take care of business.

“Invasive pythons are one of the most destructive and harmful species in America’s Everglades,” according to the South Florida Water Management District’s website. “Their aggressive predation on native wildlife robs panthers, raptors, bobcats, and other native predators of their primary food sources.”

The python problem is so bad that the state hosts an annual hunt, known as the Florida Python Challenge. This year, the 10-day competition attracted 934 python hunters from 30 states around the country. Last month, the participants culled 294 invasive pythons, adding to the 1,400 removed since the contest first launched in 2013.

A single competitor took home the $10,000 grand prize this summer by removing 60 Burmese pythons—quite a feat, considering that the huge nonvenomous snakes can reach between 6 and 9 feet long on average. Firearms aren’t allowed in the contest, so contestants manage to wrangle the snakes by hand.