In 2018, GPS tags on 13 Burmese pythons recorded locations just 18.1% of total

Image: The Everglades Foundation Imagine fitting a satellite-linked tracker to a giant constrictor and expecting a steady stream of locations. Scientists did exactly that with 13 Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park, and the results published in 2018 were both disappointing and encouraging. The devices recorded a position only 18.1 per cent of the time they tried, yet the data that did arrive was remarkably precise and far more frequent than older methods allowed. In wildlife management, snake research, or tracking technology, these findings explain what works, what fails, and what researchers recommend changing before the next attempt to follow these elusive snakes.How researchers fitted Burmese pythons with Global Positioning System tags in Everglades National ParkThe research team, made up of Brian Smith, Kristen Hart, Frank Mazzotti, Mathieu Basille, and Christina Romagosa, fitted 13 Burmese pythons with Global Positioning System tags inside Everglades National Park. According to the United States Geological Survey publication of their work in the journal Animal Biotelemetry, the team also placed seven additional tags on stationary platforms. Those fixed tags served as a...