Despite all the measures Florida has taken to rid the state of the invasive Burmese python, without any natural predators, the darn things just seem to thrive in the swampy terrain of the Everglades.
But some researches from the University of Florida have come up with a novel idea to attract and trap the pythons: robot bunnies.
The solar powered robots randomly spin, shake, and give off body heat just like a real bunny.
‘We want to capture all of the processes that an actual rabbit would give off,' Robert McCleery, a University of Florida professor of wildlife ecology and conservation who's leading the robot bunny study, said.
The robots have been placed in undisclosed areas around Florida because McCleery is wary of robo-poachers.
‘I don't want people hunting down my robo-bunnies,' McCleery explained.
His experiment is running concurrently with Florida's annual python challenge that boasts a $10,000 grand prize for the team that catches the most pythons.
But it doesn't sound like Professor McCleery is competing, he just wants to know if his bunnies have what it takes to lure a python to the party.
If not, he plans on adding some bunny scent to the robots in the next iteration.
And if that works, I sure hope that version 3 will have a python killing feature solely for the Monty Python jokes.
If you ask me, he's got a pretty good chance of success though.
I mean it worked on Bugs, surely it will work on a python, right?
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