Robo-Bunnies is the latest weapon against the gas snake in Florida

Gase Burmese snake is a scourge in South Florida. These huge snakes are one of the most malicious pests in the region, which is a great danger to local biological diversity while carrying out the original wildlife.

The Burmese snake was foot To Florida through the foreign pets trade in the 1970s and is now from the state The highest predators. Researchers and memorization specialists collect the Beton problem through The arrest and killing of the programs, however I faced great challenges. These far -fetch snakes are camouflage masters that flourish in semi -plant environments such as Everglades, which makes them difficult To find them. Now, a team of environmental scientists in wildlife at the University of Florida has developed a new way to attract them from their hiding places: Robo-Bunnies.

Yes, I have read this right. According to UF statementAssistant Professor and Environmental Science, Chris Dateon, torn the filling from 40 luxurious rabbit games and filled them with engines, heaters and solar panels to make them mimic a real rabbit’s prey. Robo-bunnies is designed to deceive the snake to believe that it is the real deal-or if you say, the real meal. They look like rabbits, move like rabbits, and until the lively body body temperature appears.

“We want to pick up all the operations that the actual rabbit will give,” said colleague of Dateon Robert McLeeri, a professor of environmental science in wildlife and its preservation. Palm Beach Post.

Previous studies have shown that the living rabbits placed in the pens attract about one python per week on average, but they require a lot of work to care for rabbits that spread throughout Everglades, according to The Palm Beach Post. Robo-bunnies requires much lower maintenance, providing a less density method in employment to attract the snake in the open.

Dutton and McClery began to test the solar -powered rabbits that control this month, putting them in various pens from South Florida. Each Robo-Bunny is equipped with a movement sensor camera that alerts researchers when Bethon approaches.

If it is proven effective, this method can make it easy for wildlife experts to capture these snakes. In recent years, Florida has taken aggressive steps to reduce the population of Beton in Everglades, including stimulating removal efforts such as the Florida Bethon 2024 challenge. During this competition, more than 850 participants. Excluded Almost 200 devastating snakes from public land in South Florida. Ronald Kigger, the winner of the grand prize, removed 20 snakes and won $ 10,000.

“Every snake has been removed and removed is a change to protect a variety of wildlife in South Florida,” the water management area in South Florida States. The boycott adds that these invasive predators pose a major threat to Everglades ecological system, which reduces the prey on which leopards, the prey, Popkats, and other original predators depend.

Dutton and the new intelligent McCleey’s temptation may eventually help reduce the environmental impact of the Burmi, but first, they need data to show that it works. McCleryy Gizmodo told him that he expects this data to be obtained by November. If the movement of Robo Bonnis, which resembles the body heat, is not able to deceive snakes, researchers are planning to add rabbits to make it more convincing, according to the Palm Beach Post.