University of Florida researchers, led by UF professor of wildlife ecology and conservation Robert McCleery, have released 40 solar-powered, remote-controlled robot bunnies this month to help control the state’s population of Burmese pythons.

Solar-Powered Remote-Controlled Robot Bunnies

Among the world’s largest snakes, the species is considered one of South Florida’s most problematic invasive species. Introduced by the exotic pet trade, the pythons are now among the top predators in the local food ecosystem and are extremely difficult to track down.

According to The Palm Beach Post, researchers replaced the stuffing of plush toy bunnies with motors and heaters to mimic the body temperature of marsh rabbits, which are among the preferred prey of the Burmese pythons.

“We want to capture all of the processes that an actual rabbit would give off,” McCleery explained.

Though previous studies have shown that penned rabbits can attract the pythons, this approach requires too much manpower to care for the animals. The robot bunnies, however, are waterproof, equipped with motion sensors to locate pythons, and they don’t require feeding or cleaning.

“If we can see a statistically significant number of pythons that are coming to investigate these robotic rabbits and the pens that would be a success, because right now, pythons do a great job of staying hidden,” Mike Kirkland, lead invasive animal biologist for the South Florida Water Management District, told WINK.

According to Popular Science, if the realistic robot rabbits don’t fool the pythons, researchers behind the project plan to perfume the gadgets with rabbit scent.

The robot rabbits were deployed just after the annual Florida Python Challenge, a 10-day competition in which hundreds of snake wranglers hunt the invasive species. According to the New York Post, last year’s competition winner captured 20 pythons, winning a $10,000 grand prize in the process.