Pythons are snacking on GPS-wearing opossums that give up their locations

After nearly five months of waiting, an alarm activated on Michael Cove’s radio, a sign his study was working.

To hunt pythons, an invasive predator in the Florida Keys, Cove and fellow researchers have been strapping GPS collars to opossums and raccoons. When one was eaten by a python in September, researchers programmed the device to notify them from within the snake’s stomach.