Florida Thinks It Has Found Its Solution to Burmese Pythons in a Surprising Place

Florida finds an unexpected ally in the fight against pythons: Opossums

Scientists in Florida have launched a new offensive against the Burmese python invasion, this time using opossums, one of the giant snake’s favorite prey. The initiative comes from biologists A.J. Sanjar and Michael Cove of the Crocodile Lake ...

Florida Thinks It Has Found Its Solution to Burmese Pythons in a Surprising Place

Possums are being put to work in Florida in the fight against invasive Burmese pythons, here's how the experts are using the creatures.

To Target Pythons, Florida Researchers Are GPS-Tracking Possums and Waiting Until They Get Eaten

As Burmese pythons continue to eat their way through the South Florida food web, wildlife biologists and researchers have come up with all sorts of ways to track down the giant snakes and slow their spread. They’ve used drones, thermal cameras, robotic bunnies, and even male “scout snakes” implanted with GPS devices that can lead them to breeding females. (These scouts have proven to be particularly effective in and around the Everglades.) Now, …

NEWS: OPOSSUMS TO THE RESCUE AGAINST BURMA PYTHONS

It’s well known that opossums are essential to an ecosystem: they feed on ticks, cockroaches, rats, slugs, small venomous snakes (they are immune to their venom), and other unwanted pests. They also eat the carcasses of dead animals. They are nature’s cleaners. Jeremy Dixon, director of the Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Michael Cove of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and A.J. Sanjar, a student at Southern Illinois Unive…