South Florida researchers use GPS-fitted possums and raccoons to capture invasive pythons

According to reports, South Florida researchers are developing a novel strategy to locate and trap invasive

Burmese pythons using small mammals implanted with GPS sensors. According to the Tampa Bay Times,

researchers have been observing raccoon and possum behaviour on the outskirts of Key Largo's Crocodile National Wildlife Refuge,

which is about 40 miles south of Miami. The team can follow the locations of the possums and raccoons because all of the small animals

that the researchers have been observing have GPS collars. After around five months, the researchers made a small advancement

when one field-used possum collar abruptly stopped moving for a few hours before starting up again.

According to Michael Cove, curator of mammals at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences,

the absence of movement caused what experts dubbed a mortality signal, but when it started moving again,

The researchers had a hunch the little animal may have been eaten by a snake.

Cove is collaborating on the research with staff from Southern Illinois University and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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