In Key Largo this spring, wildlife crews started turning local opossums into unlikely scouts, slipping lightweight tracking collars around their necks and releasing them back into the mangrove thickets.

Florida researchers are scaling up a unique strategy to combat invasive Burmese pythons by fitting opossums with GPS collars. The animals, a common prey for the snakes, can lead scientists to pythons after being eaten, allowing for targeted removal.

Here's what we know about the 2026 Florida Python Challenge, how the yearly hunt works and a little bit about last year's winner.