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

Some of Florida’s opossums may soon start dying for a noble cause. A few select marsupials fitted with tracking collars may begin to lead scientists to invasive Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) slithering through the Everglades.

A 15-foot Burmese python was caught swallowing a “full-sized” deer in Southwest Florida, proving the invasive apex predators are ambushing and eating bigger prey. The python was 115 pounds and the deer was 77 pounds, which amounts to 66.9% of the snake ...

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)

Wild predators must regularly hunt or forage to survive. While many animals graze or scavenge, large constrictor snakes rely on overpowering and swallowing prey whole. But even experienced predators can miscalculate. Visitors to Kruger National Park in ...

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

UC Professor Bruce Jayne poses with a Burmese python specimen with a 22-centimeter gape, right, compared to an even larger specimen with a 26-centimeter gape. Credit: Bruce Jayne UC Professor Bruce Jayne poses with a Burmese python specimen with a 22 ...

Editor's note: This story originally published in 2024. Python hunter Bayo Hernandez prefers his snake ground up like hamburger meat with ketchup, mustard, and mayo. Another hunter fancies the slithering scourge of the Everglades in a stir fry or chili.

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.