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Drones Are Protecting Wildlife Too Now

Drones have been trending for a while now, and it’s only just the beginning. While there are drones that patrol work premises and homes, there are now also drones that have been designed to protect our wildlife. Michael Moore is a marine biologist based at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts who, for over a year now, has been trying to capture the breath of whales.


This may seem a little odd, but the reason Moore is doing it is in hopes to gain a better understanding of the creature’s health and to do this he has created a small fleet of unmanned drones to carry out the somewhat dangerous task. Moore and his team are expecting to get their first analysis later this year.

Moore is in great support of harnessing UAVs for research and wildlife conservation. These types of machines have just recently discovered that Sumatra is home to twice as many Orangutans as previously predicted and have also been used to track down poachers in India. It’s discoveries such as these that keep Moore and his team going and give them hope for the future.

To get a sample of a whale's blow, the researchers attach a sterilized petri dish to the top of the hexacopter. After a successful flight, they transfer the collected liquid to a small plastic vial and freeze it. Back at WHO!, Apprill and her colleague Carolyn Miller will use a technique known as metagenomics to analyze genetic material and identify microbes in the blow. (Photo by Véronique LaCapra, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
To get a sample of a whale’s blow, the researchers attach a sterilized petri dish to the top of the hexacopter. After a successful flight, they transfer the collected liquid to a small plastic vial and freeze it. Back at WHO!, Apprill and her colleague Carolyn Miller will use a technique known as metagenomics to analyze genetic material and identify microbes in the blow. (Photo by Véronique LaCapra, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

A growing group of scientists are using drones for wildlife conservation and research. (Unmanned Research Aircraft Facility/uraf.org)
A growing group of scientists are using drones for wildlife conservation and research. (Unmanned Research Aircraft Facility/uraf.org)

Other drone projects in wildlife can be found among a group called Conservation Drones that works to find real solutions to modifying UAVs for wildlife conservation. Drones have also been used in gathering information by remote sensors. In 2013, a drone was created that wirelessly collected footage from various camera traps in the Wadi Wurayah National Park in Dubai.

So, there are many benefits to using drones when it comes to wildlife, but there are also things to consider. The main one being that wildlife and noise are not always a good mix and animals can easily become spooked if they hear strange or loud noises coming from a drone. For this reason, some parks have already outright banned drones. If manufacturers can develop them so they are more animal friendly, then they could be a really good idea. If not, they could end up doing more harm than good.



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