EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK: The Army Corps of Engineers says recent tests using thermal imaging to detect pythons are showing promise.
The non-native snakes are running amuck in the Everglades - with a population estimated at over 100,000 in south Florida.
Experts say the python population may be moving north, and the problem has recently drawn the attention of state and federal legislators.
In August, Florida Fish & Wildlife authorized licensed hunters to kill pythons in the wild for the first time, to cut down the population.
But the snakes have been difficult to find --- enter the Army Corps of Engineers.
The Corps gathered experts in Everglades National Park September 9-10 to try thermal imaging as a possible solution.
Thermal imaging devices detect heat from living things and make it possible to "see" them, even when they're not visible to the human eye.
To conduct their test, the Corps enlisted the help of "Max," a 10-foot Burmese python captured in the Everglades and now owned by the park.
He was turned loose and headed out of sight, while thermal imaging company employees set up their equipment in bucket trucks, with their lifts extended about 30-feet high.
The Corps ran the first test in the middle of the day. They say the imaging equipment was able to find Max, despite the Florida heat.
But the Corps says the better results came in the evening test, run around 8 p.m.
"We saw important differences in the images taken later in the day," said Larry Taylor of the Army Corps of Engineers.
Taylor said the tests also showed the January may be the best month to use thermal imaging to find pythons, based on the angle of the sun.
See photos from the test in the slideshow below.
The meeting, attended by the U.S. Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Army's Aviation & Missile Research Center, the South Florida Water Management District and the U.S. Geological Survey, also featured nationally-known python expert, Mike Dorcas, from Davidson College and teams from The University of Florida.
"We wanted to bring together as many technical experts and brilliant minds as we could to find solutions to the problem," said Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District Commander Col. Al Pantan.
A number of python facts were discussed at the meeting, including: