📰News 🦝 Possum news (and memes)
- Thread starter DocZaius
- Start date
Gatorbreeze
Contributor
Invasive Pythons are a real problem in Florida, but now, hunters may have a new way to track them.
If you guessed that this new method of tracking involves dead possums, that’s a weird guess, but a correct one.
Researchers in Key Largo have realized that possums fitted with GPS collars could help to track pythons. The possums — as well as raccoons — were originally given collars as part of a study to gain insight into their behavior.
This is good because — as I’ve been saying for years — of all the things scientists could spend time trying to figure out, the behavioral habits of medium-sized rodents is at the top of the list.
That planned research into what possums and raccoons do when they’re not tipping over trash cans or getting hit by cars took a turn. Researchers noticed one possum’s collar sent out a mortality signal due to lack of movement. This sounds like the oldest trick in the possum playbook, but as it turns out this one really was dead.
However, it started moving again. One of the researchers told the South Florida SunSentinel that this usually means the possum was on the menu for a hungry python.
“This thing was underground. It took a month of tracking the snake underground [to capture it],” researcher Michael Cove said.
Eventually, python hunters managed to haul the snake out of the ground. In this instance, the 12-foot, 66-pound female python came with egg follicles. Hundreds of them.
This is the python-hunting equivalent of trying to get one pack of Skittles out of vending machine and having a second one come tumbling out with it. Except in this case, there are over a hundred eggs.
That’s a big deal given how invasive pythons have become. So, euthanizing that one snake and disposing of its eggs kept dozens upon dozens of snakes from multiplying exponentially.
This whole possum-fueled snake hunt showed researchers that a new way to track pythons could be to track their prey instead.
Hey whatever works. Invasive pythons are a huge problem. If possums can prove to be more useful than just playing dead and being creepy, then it’s a win-win in my book.
https://www.outkick.com/python-hunters-in-south-florida-have-a-new-way-to-track-the-giant-snakes-and-it-involves-possums/
If you guessed that this new method of tracking involves dead possums, that’s a weird guess, but a correct one.
Researchers in Key Largo have realized that possums fitted with GPS collars could help to track pythons. The possums — as well as raccoons — were originally given collars as part of a study to gain insight into their behavior.
This is good because — as I’ve been saying for years — of all the things scientists could spend time trying to figure out, the behavioral habits of medium-sized rodents is at the top of the list.
That planned research into what possums and raccoons do when they’re not tipping over trash cans or getting hit by cars took a turn. Researchers noticed one possum’s collar sent out a mortality signal due to lack of movement. This sounds like the oldest trick in the possum playbook, but as it turns out this one really was dead.
However, it started moving again. One of the researchers told the South Florida SunSentinel that this usually means the possum was on the menu for a hungry python.
“This thing was underground. It took a month of tracking the snake underground [to capture it],” researcher Michael Cove said.
Eventually, python hunters managed to haul the snake out of the ground. In this instance, the 12-foot, 66-pound female python came with egg follicles. Hundreds of them.
This is the python-hunting equivalent of trying to get one pack of Skittles out of vending machine and having a second one come tumbling out with it. Except in this case, there are over a hundred eggs.
That’s a big deal given how invasive pythons have become. So, euthanizing that one snake and disposing of its eggs kept dozens upon dozens of snakes from multiplying exponentially.
This whole possum-fueled snake hunt showed researchers that a new way to track pythons could be to track their prey instead.
Hey whatever works. Invasive pythons are a huge problem. If possums can prove to be more useful than just playing dead and being creepy, then it’s a win-win in my book.
https://www.outkick.com/python-hunters-in-south-florida-have-a-new-way-to-track-the-giant-snakes-and-it-involves-possums/
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I gotta be honest, I never knew there were beavers in Europe. I always thought they were a North American species - thus the whole fur industry in the early 1800s.
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On the ugliest home in america on HGTV the midwest winner said a possum ran across his foot in the kitchen
it was in Kentucky obvi
52:20 said:
That one is definitely coming
I didn't know beaver were in Europe either for the same reason Doc said.
On an annoying critter note, I have an armadillo in my trap. 2 days now, I keep opening the door and it keeps knocking it shut. It won't fucking leave. If it's still there this morning, I'm gonna have to try to dump it out (they hold on like I'm trying to drop him off a cliff). It's a real pain in the ass. I don't want to kill and bury it, I just have too much else to do.
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JTG having coon problems:
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I dunno, if this happened to me, my brain would shut down as well.
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ufgators68
n00b
Just fire up the boat and drive the seal to land. Pretty damn easy.
Panamag8or
Contributor
ufgators68 said:
This dizzy bitch pushed it off into the water. I didn't watch, but I can imagine what happened next.
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Now we've got to worry about feral emus?
www.upi.com
Woman and dog chased by pair of emus on Michigan trail - UPI.com
A Michigan woman walking her dog on a trail said a pair of emus appeared from the woods and chased her for about half a mile.
www.upi.com
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Irish Mike
Administrator
Fuckin Doug
That would be 2 dead emus.
Happy Mother’s do to the coon whose teen I just dispatched