Opossums vs. pythons: Inside Florida's unusual strategy for fighting invasive snakes

Florida scientists are using opossums to secretly track invasive Burmese pythons in the Everglades-and it's working.
MyTwinTiers.com

GPS-collared opossums help track Florida pythons after being eaten

Contractors with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Thomas Aycock, left, and Tom Rahill, founder of the Swamp Apes, a veterans therapy nonprofit, show off an invasive Burmese python caught earlier, as they wait for sunset to hunt pythons, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024, in the Florida Everglades. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Florida's python hunt coming soon. What to know about the reigning champ

Here's what we know about the 2026 Florida Python Challenge, how the yearly hunt works and a little bit about last year's winner.

Florida Scientists Found an Unlikely Python-Tracking Trick After a Snake Ate an Opossum

Scientists found a shocking way to track Florida’s invasive pythons: let the snakes swallow GPS-collared opossums.
Hoodline

Key Largo’s ‘Spy’ Opossums Lead Hunters To Giant Pythons

In Key Largo this spring, wildlife crews started turning local opossums into unlikely scouts, slipping lightweight tracking collars around their necks and releasing them back into the mangrove thickets.

Why Florida Scientists Are Putting GPS Collars on Opossums to Track Giant Burmese Pythons

A bizarre discovery in Florida: GPS-collared opossums are now helping researchers hunt invasive Burmese pythons.

Possums vs. pythons: How Florida’s only marsupial became a weapon against invasive snakes

Docile, furry and cute to some, possums have become an unexpected ally in the effort to slow the invasion of Burmese pythons, a snake that has decimated ecosystems in Florida.