A new way to identify snakes

There’s a new tool to identify locations of the slithering beasts overtaking the Everglades and other invasive snakes.

It works in a way similar to how you might identify a long-lost relative by making a DNA connection.

In an effort to control the python population, there are hunts, GPS trackers and DNA tests.

• RELATED: Invasive Burmese Python jaws larger than previously thought

“When an animal is in its environment, it’s going to be sloughing DNA into the environment, so that’s into aquatic systems and terrestrial systems, and that’s through like shedding skin or scales,” said University of Florida professor Melissa Miller.

Miller is an invasion ecologist who likes to get her hands dirty. She described the significance of her published research.

“Tests with environmental DNA are particularly good for detecting species that are very cryptic and hard to find, like Burmese pythons,” she said.

She continued, “We can test soil and water samples that we collect for those trace amounts of DNA from an animal, and that allows us to know if a species is present in an area.”

• RELATED: 2024 python challenge winner caught 20 pythons

The test, the tetraplex digital PCR assay, is unique because it can identify four different species in one shot: Burmese pythons, northern African pythons, boa constrictors and rainbow boas.

“When you have these multi-invaded ecosystems like we do in Florida, where we have lots of different invasive species, just with reptiles, we have over 50 breeding species of reptiles that are not native to Florida, and it begs for tools to monitor them that can be as efficient as possible,” Miller said.

While the DNA can’t get rid of invasive species, it can identify locations, problem spots and when the snakes slither into new areas.

Miller also plans to expand her work. She and her team are designing a DNA test for invasive fish and lizards, such as the Argentine black-and-white tegu and the Nile monitor.