Deep in the Florida Everglades, a vast and difficult landscape, scientists are trying a new way to find invasive Burmese pythons; they are looking from above.
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they → try → pythons
Researchers are testing small drones fitted with radio tracking equipment or cameras to locate snakes more efficiently, follow their movements across difficult terrain, and cut the cost of searching from the ground.
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Researchers → test → ground
One female python released after tagging measured 16 feet and weighed 147.9 pounds.
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python → release → pounds
In this article, you will learn how the technology works, why pythons are so hard to track, what the scientists hope to gain, and what important questions remain unanswered.
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questions → learn → what
How United States scientists use drones to monitor invasive Burmese pythons across the Everglades
The United States Geological Survey, a federal science agency, is testing a different approach to a long-running wildlife problem.
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Survey → use → problem
Scientists at its Fort Collins Science Centre are using uncrewed aircraft systems, commonly called drones, to track invasive Burmese pythons and to learn more about how the snakes move across a vast and difficult landscape.
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snakes → use → landscape
The work is described in the center's September 2026 series, which highlights how its projects support sound decision-making.
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projects → describe → making
The python project stands out because the agency's own account calls it a novel use of technology that is more commonly applied to monitoring rivers and forests.
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that → stand → rivers
The 16-foot, 147.9-pound female Burmese python that was radio-tagged
A photograph published by the USGS captures the technology at work.
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photograph → tag → work
In the image, agency biologists operate a small uncrewed aircraft system while University of Florida interns release a newly radio-tagged female Burmese python, 16 feet long and weighing 147.9 pounds, back into the Greater Everglades Ecosystem.
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interns → operate → Ecosystem
The scene shows how the pieces fit together: a snake carrying a radio tag, people on the ground handling it safely, and an aircraft overhead testing how well the tag can be followed from the sky.
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tag → show → sky
Why Burmese pythons threaten Everglades mammals and why tracking them across difficult terrain is hard (Image: Canva)
How radio tracking equipment and cameras improve python detection efficiency
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equipment → threaten → efficiency
The agency explains that the aircraft can carry either radio tracking equipment or a camera.
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aircraft → explain → equipment
The platform is being evaluated as a way to improve detection and tracking efficiency, collect better data, and reduce the labour and operating costs of traditional ground-based monitoring for pythons.
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platform → evaluate → pythons
In plain terms, a drone can cover wet, thick, hard-to-walk areas far faster than a person on foot, and it can pick up a tagged snake's signal or spot the animal from overhead.
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it → cover → animal
If it works well, fewer people would need to spend long hours searching difficult ground.
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people → work → ground
Why Burmese pythons threaten Everglades mammals and why tracking them across difficult terrain is hard
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tracking → threaten → terrain
The United States Geological Survey leads federal research to control the Burmese python, which has become firmly established across the Greater Everglades Ecosystem and poses a serious threat to native wildlife.
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which → lead → wildlife
The snake can grow to more than 17 feet long and is believed to be a key factor in the sharp decline of mammal populations in the region.
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snake → grow → region
Finding such a well-camouflaged animal in a huge, wet landscape is slow and costly, which explains why scientists are eager to test aerial tools.
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scientists → find → tools
How drone training for Department of the Interior scientists brought python tracking to the Everglades
The idea grew out of a training program.
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idea → bring → program
Chris Holmquist-Johnson, a certified instructor in uncrewed aircraft systems for the Department of the Interior, trained a group of Fort Collins Science Centre scientists working in the Florida Everglades about a year before the article was published.
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article → train → Everglades
Those researchers are now using the technology to track Burmese pythons and are gaining new insight into their movement behaviour.
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researchers → use → behaviour
Holmquist-Johnson's main work involves rivers and forests in the western United States, including mapping changes in river channels and surveying thinned forest areas, so the Everglades project shows how skills built in one setting can be carried into another.
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skills → involve → another
Why further testing matters for python control
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testing → matter → control
It is important to read the project for what it is.
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it → read → project
The agency describes the aircraft as a tool still under evaluation, and the sources do not report measured results, such as how many more snakes are found or how much money is saved.
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money → describe → results
The 16-foot, 147.9-pound snake is a single example from a photograph, not an average, and the agency notes that pythons can grow even longer.
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pythons → note → photograph
As testing continues, the key questions will be how reliably the aircraft locate tagged and untagged snakes, and whether the savings in time and cost hold up across the seasons and the many kinds of habitat in the Everglades.
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savings → continue → Everglades
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