These Snakes Found a New Way to Slither The novel technique is great news for Guam’s brown tree snakes, bad news for the island’s nesting birds. The brown tree snake was introduced accidentally to Guam in the 1940s, decimating the population of native birds, including Micronesian starlings.Credit...Bjorn Lardner, United States Geological Survey By Sabrina Imbler Published Jan. 11, 2021Updated Jan. 12, 2021 In 2016, on the northern tip of Guam, two biologists, Tom Seibert and Julie Savidge, challenged several brown tree snakes to a battle of wits. The arena: a concrete pen with a narrow metal pole. The prize, at the top of the pole: two mice, a seed cake and a potato in a cage. (The potato and seed cake were for the mice.) The obstacle: a three-foot-tall metal stovepipe baffle cinched around the pole like a cummerbund.