Florida has a new and creative approach to getting the Burmese pythons out of the Everglades using robot bunnies who lure the pythons into traps so they can be captured and killed.
Researchers out of the University of Florida recently released a total of 40 animatronic bunnies in the wild to get them to lure giant Burmese pythons so they can be killed.
The robot bunnies are remote-controlled toys that are full of electrical components and features a heat signature that will make the pythons think it’s live game. The rabbits have small cameras that let researchers know of movement in the area. Once notified, they would check the feeds to evaluate if a python has been tricked.
Destroying the Everglades
The pythons are destroying the natural wildlife, and eat animals on shore. They never belonged there in the first place. The problem began in 1992 when Hurricane Andrew destroyed facilities housing these exotic animals. They found a home in the Everglades. There are also owners who dump them off into the Everglades when they realize they don’t want them.
The Burmese pythons are decimating native wildlife, and they have no natural predators in the Everglades. They are destroying mammals, birds and reptiles.
Once the exotic pet trade introduced them into the area, they established themselves in the wild and have become a serious threat to the ecosystem’s delicate balance.
They will eat anything raccoons opossums, and they have an insatiable hunger. The Burmese snakes are the main predators in the Everglades and are very invasive. They weigh 200 pounds and are huge competition for the alligators and crocodiles.
Threatening the entire ecosystem.
They reproduce out of control and can lay 50 to 100 eggs at a time.
Pythons are tremendous threat to birds that nest in trees. Pythons are skilled climbers and have added large birds, such as Woodstorks and Herons to their diet.
Birds are critical to Florida’s ecosystem as a control of the pest populations. Losing them to pythons means more unattended consequences for the environment.
They destroy vegetation through indirect effects by preying on seed-dispersing mammals, such as raccoons and squirrels. The unwelcome creatures inadvertently significantly alter the plant diversity within the Everglades ecosystem.
Pythons endanger rare and endemic species such as the eastern indigo snake. They are now invading human areas and eating dogs and cats as they destroy the fragile ecosystem of the Everglades.
Florida deploys furry robot rabbits to fight invasive Burmese python overpopulation https://t.co/uYLiRTKbKe pic.twitter.com/WHHlmuRjt2
— New York Post (@nypost) July 27, 2025
Fiil the buddies with a 1/4 lb of C4 and blow the crap out of them
Very interesting approach to a man-made environmental pest.
Now, about cane toads…