EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Fla. - Burmese pythons are the bad guys of the Everglades — devouring entire populations of small mammals, raiding wading bird nests and disrupting the natural balance of predator and prey.

The invasive snakes are an environmental disaster and state and federal wildlife managers have put a bounty on their heads, and enlisted teams of hunters to track them down and take them out.

But there are about 50 pythons that scientists actually want slithering around out there — specially equipped snakes that help researchers figure out the habits and patterns of the elusive exotic constrictors. To protect these valuable snakes from South Florida’s python posse, they are getting fitted with a bit of bling.

Scientists have begun fitting fluorescent orange tags and adding three-digit scale marks to protect so-called “Judas snakes” -- pythons equipped with tracking devices that can help researchers devise control techniques or pinpoint prime breeding areas in nearly inaccessible swamps. Those snakes represent a considerable investment, as much as 11 grand each in time and tracking missions.

“Our research pythons are extremely valuable animals because they allow us to collect data on behaviour, range, hormone cycles, habitat use, and all kinds of useful information,” said Jill Josimovich, a U.S. Geological Survey biologist leading a python tracking study at Everglades National Park. “That’s why we want to make it easy for people to identify them.”

With more hunters on the prowl for pythons than ever, Josimovich and her colleagues at the National Park Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Conservancy of Southwest Florida are hoping to mark every study reptile currently participating in research and new recruits. So far, about 40 snakes have been marked or tagged, but new VIPs (very important pythons) are constantly being captured and released.

USGS also produced a flier to tell hunters what to do if they find a study snake: “If you spot a python that has any fluorescent orange tags or three-digit scale marks on its side, congratulations, you’ve just discovered a very valuable research animal that is helping us save the Everglades!”

That value is measured in data and dollars. In a 2016 study with 25 radio-tracked Judas pythons led by the University of Florida, scientists collected information to track movements, determine habitat preferences and count the number of “betrayal” events -- when a Judas snake led researchers to other snakes during the December to April breeding season from 2007 until 2012. The cost, which included airplane telemetry flights at $8,403 and helicopter flights at $13,906, came out to $11,029 per python.

Josimovich said two different kinds of tags are being tested. They are inserted with an applicator pistol that doesn’t harm the animals. The other technique that uses scale marks as IDs is similar to freeze-branding, which destroys the cells that produce pigment on the snake’s skin, leaving bright white marks.

The Judas snakes are important tools because pythons are incredibly hard to spot in the wild.

“Some studies concluded that if you are out on foot looking for pythons you have a 1 per cent chance or less of detecting one,” Josimovich said. She is currently working on implanting female hormones on male snakes so that their feminized scent will hopefully attract many males.

Since settling in the Everglades’ marshes and tree islands in 2000, the python has become the face of South Florida’s losing battle against invasive species.

In 2017, two state-funded programs run by the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission began paying hunters to catch pythons -- the bigger the snake, the more money -- with bonuses for egg-bearing females. The district last year doubled the number of python removal agents to 50, adding to FWC’s python removal contractors.

Another hunting effort, the Python Challenge, used to happen every three years but will now take place annually. This year, wildlife managers are tapping the hype surrounding the Super Bowl in Miami to launch the 2020 Python Bowl, a competitive hunt with cash prizes. More than 400 people have signed up for the competitive hunt that runs from January 10-19.

With so many hunters -- professional and amateurs -- on the prowl in the Everglades, protecting the few good pythons has taken on some urgency.

The Conservancy of Southwest Florida’s python research and removal project, which started in 2013 in Collier County, currently works with 30 male “sentinels” to help locate female pythons in very hard to reach areas. It has tracked more than 60 snakes since the start of the project.

“We are still tracking our first snake, Elvis, almost 7 years later. He is the longest continuously tracked Burmese python on the planet,” said Ian Bartoszek, environmental science project manager at the organization. “Tracking tagged pythons has given us a unique insight into their life history and helped us identify breeding hotspots in our region.”

News from © The Associated Press, 2020