Latest news with #ConservancyOfSouthwestFlorida
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Florida Just Deployed 40 Robot Bunnies to Trick the Worst Predator in the Everglades
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.) Read Next: These Snake Trackers Have Removed More than 20 Tons of Invasive Pythons from Florida… and They're Just Getting Started 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.' Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Burmese pythons completely digest prey, including skeletons. Here's how
Just when you thought you knew everything about one of Florida's least-favorite invasive species, a surprise emerges. Scientists have discovered a new type of cell that helps Burmese pythons digest the skeletons of their prey, according to the Journal of Experimental Biology. You heard correctly, after a python swallows its meal — which can be as large as a whole deer — researchers have found why no bone fragments emerged, um, from either end. It all has to do with a newly discovered bone-digesting cell in the snakes' intestines. Where do Burmese pythons live? Originally from Southeast Asia, the Burmese python was introduced to southern Florida either through accidental escape or intentional release of captive animals. The Conservancy of Southwest Florida has removed more than 20 tons — 40,000 pounds — of Burmese pythons in Southwest Florida since 2013. The team uses 40 "scout snakes" to locate reproductive pythons during the breeding season, November through April, across a 200-square-mile area of public and private land from Naples through the Western Everglades. "Biologists target adult female pythons, attempting to suppress python reproduction. Since 2013, the team has stopped an additional 20,000 python eggs from hatching," the Conservancy of Southwest Florida said. What do Burmese pythons eat? Pythons can consume meals over 100% of their body mass, feeding on a diet that includes more than 85 species, including deer, bobcats, foxes, rabbits, birds, various reptiles and other native wildlife. Special cells allow Burmese pythons to absorb skeletons of their prey Scientists have discovered a 'previously unknown cell type' in the walls of pythons' intestines that completely dissolves skeletons, according to a study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology. Professor Jehan-Hervé Lignot of the University of Montpellier in France is credited with the discovery, using captive juvenile pythons as his test subjects and subjecting the snakes with three different types of diet: a normal diet with entire rodents; a low-calcium diet using rodents with no bones; and a calcium-rich diet using boneless rodents and calcium carbonate supplements. Looking at the specialized cells in the snakes' intestines revealed "Burmese pythons possess a specialised intestinal cell type involved in excreting excess dissolved calcium and phosphorus that originate from the prey and are precipitated as particles that must accumulate in the faeces." Snakes fed boneless prey suffer from calcium deficiencies, but too much calcium isn't good, either, and absorbing the calcium from an entire skeleton could put too much calcium into the snakes' bloodstream. 'We wanted to identify how they were able to process and limit this huge absorption of calcium through the intestinal wall,' Lignot told EurekaAlert, a nonprofit news-release distribution platform operated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Burmese pythons aren't alone when it comes to the specialized cells. They've also been identified in other pythons, boa constrictors and the venomous Gila monster." Largest pythons documented in Florida Burmese pythons, classified as one of the largest snakes in the world, are an invasive specifies in Florida and are found primarily in and around the Everglades, where the snake represents a threat to native wildlife, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The Conservancy of Southwest Florida said its scientists were recognized for capturing the largest female python ever documented to date, measuring 18 feet long and weighing 215 pounds, as well as the largest male python on record at 16 feet and 140 pounds. Pythons may not be venomous but their bite hurts According to the Florida Museum website, small individual pythons are not generally dangerous to people or pets. Large Burmese pythons have large, sharp teeth, and their bites can cause severe lacerations. ➤ Florida python hunter describes python bite: 'Like a mouthful of hypodermic needles' "They are like a mouthful of hyperdermic needles," is how the python hunter Amy Siewe described a bite from a python. This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Burmese pythons digest entire skeletons with bone-digesting cell Solve the daily Crossword
The Guardian
16-06-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
Florida sheds 20 tons of invasive pythons in effort to curb its population
It was a milestone moment in Florida's 25-year war on invasive Burmese pythons: an eye-popping announcement that biologists had removed 20 tons of the slithering invaders from waters in and around the Everglades in little more than a decade, as well as shattering their previous record for a single-season haul. The successes of the team at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida showcase the progress that has been made in efforts to reverse the snakes' takeover of the state's natural wilderness, even though experts concede they will probably never be completely eradicated. 'Every single python that's removed is positive for the environment,' said Mike Kirkland, python program manager at the south Florida water management district, which with its own partners has separately tracked and euthanized more than 15,650 individuals of a predatory species blamed for a calamitous decline in the Everglades' native mammal population. 'We're getting better and better at removing this invasive species. We're learning more about their behavior and life history, and their non-native range here in south Florida, which is leading to more removals and hopefully innovation and novel strategies going forward. 'Progress is being made. Anecdotally we're seeing some demographic shifts, and regionally, we're seeing less larger size-class pythons in certain areas. That's a direct result of our management efforts, and our partners' management efforts.' Kirkland, and other experts, say it is impossible to know how many pythons are swimming in the waters of the greater Everglades region, making it difficult to accurately gauge the impact of the removal efforts. Most estimates settle at tens of thousands, originating from a handful of snakes believed to have been dumped by pet owners in the 1990s when they grew too big. Females can lay dozens of eggs, sometimes up to 100 annually, and although many hatchlings do not survive to adulthood, some still fear that pythons are reproducing faster than they can be caught. 'There's also imprecision about what the goal is because people may implicitly assume that it's complete eradication of pythons in Florida, which is probably not realistic given what we know about invasive species elsewhere,' said Andrew Durso, a herpetologist at Florida Gulf Coast University. '[But] if you can take out one female, it's not just that single python, but all of her current and future reproduction, that's thousands of eggs that will never be laid.' Biologists at the conservancy, a privately funded environmental organization headquartered in Naples, focus efforts on finding and removing females during the November to April breeding season, tracking tagged male 'scout' snakes with radio telemetry. 'There's very good evidence that the scout snake program is our most effective and least biased method. It doesn't just limit us to targeting human accessible areas and it's super targeted toward those reproductive females,' said Durso, who is not connected with the conservancy's removal program. 'But it's expensive to radio track these males into remote parts of the Everglades where you can't go very easily. You need air support from a helicopter, which ups the price per python removed. It's all a balance sheet of how do we want to spend money?' Ian Bartoszek, the conservancy's science project manager and chief wildlife scientist, said tracking and removing the snakes – 6,300lb since November in a 200 sq mile area of south west Florida – was 'a heavy lifting assignment', but that the refinement of the tracking technology in particular had led to increasing success. 'Through years of research we've developed science-based methods to track this apex predator more effectively and mitigate its damage to our native wildlife population,' he said, adding that his team's efforts had prevented about 20,000 eggs from hatching since beginning its work in 2013. 'Burmese pythons are impressive creatures that are here from no fault of their own. As wildlife biologists, we have tremendous respect for all snake species. However, we understand the impact invasive pythons are having on the biodiversity in our area and we humanely remove them from the ecosystem.' Kirkland said that harnessing public fascination with pythons has been a significant tool aiding efforts to remove them. YouTube videos showing fights in the Everglades between pythons and alligators have amassed millions of views, and Kirkland said he gets up to 100 letters a week from hunters seeking to join the 50 freelance 'removal agents' contracted by his agency's python elimination program. Additionally, the highly popular Florida python challenge attracts hundreds of hunters every summer seeking cash prizes. Kirkland hopes next month's 10-day event will surpass 2024, when 895 participants captured 195 snakes. 'Education helps get people involved and helps maintain support for our management efforts,' Kirkland said. 'Programs like the conservancy telemetry program, and similar projects with the University of Florida and US Geological Survey, they all help increase our understanding of the behavior of the species in their non-native range.' Ultimately, he said, that 'village' of eager participants leaves him more optimistic than he has ever been. 'As with most environmental issues, a multi-pronged strategy of different efforts working in concert with one another is really the best path forward,' he said. 'In the future I see the python population being greatly reduced, and to a point where we can begin to see a robust return of our native animal populations, which is why we're doing all this to begin with. 'I'm confident we're going to be able to manage this species to the point where we're seeing our deer populations, our foxes, our possums, our raccoons and so on, restored to the Everglades.'
CBS News
10-06-2025
- Science
- CBS News
Conservancy removes more than 20 tons of Burmese pythons from Southwest Florida
Group removes more than 6 thousand pounds of pythons from western Everglades Group removes more than 6 thousand pounds of pythons from western Everglades Group removes more than 6 thousand pounds of pythons from western Everglades The Conservancy of Southwest Florida is going after big invasive snakes in a big way. On Monday, they announced a record-breaking Burmese python season. The group said it removed 6,300 pounds of the invasive snake, marking a milestone for the conservancy's python program, with more than 20 tons of Burmese pythons removed from a 200-square-mile area in Southwest Florida since 2013. Conservancy targets female pythons Biologists target adult female pythons to stop python reproduction. Since 2013, the team has stopped 20,000 python eggs from hatching. The Conservancy's python program previously captured the largest female python ever documented, which measured 18 feet and weighed 215 pounds, as well as the largest male python on record at 16 feet and 140 pounds. Pythons can eat meals that are more than 100% of their body mass, with a diet of more than 85 species, including deer, rabbits, foxes, bobcats, birds, and other reptiles and native wildlife. Using radio telemetry and tagged male pythons known as scout snakes that help locate reproducing pythons during the breeding season, the team currently tracks 40 pythons. Staff monitor scout snakes across land from Naples through the western Everglades. As the program expands into new areas, long-term monitoring has been shown to be effective.
