Weird Science looks to eliminate exploding pythons

Predator drone’s next target may be Burmese pythons: This week, the Department of the Interior announced that it was getting serious about an invasive species, the Burmese python, which has decided that Florida’s Everglades are a perfectly comfortable habitat. The effort will apparently involve a number of approaches to understanding the animal’s behavior in its unnatural habitat, but I was struck by the fact that Interior is looking to use drones with infrared cameras to try to spot the elusive predators.

There are some other surprises in the announcement, such as the indication that there is an effort under way to figure out what makes for effective python bait, and to design a trap to put it in. There are also volunteer groups that go out and look for snakes to capture and remove them from the Everglades. No discussion of this issue, however, would be complete without mention of the image that brought this to the public’s attention, that of a python that exploded after swallowing an alligator that was a bit too large. “Sometimes a snake will make a mistake,” said wildlife biologist Skip Snow, referring to the image.

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