Australia uses drones and thermal cameras to monitor endangered animals

Deploying drones equipped with thermal cameras helps Australian scientists monitor endangered animals more effectively, while providing valuable data for research and wildlife population recovery.

Australian researchers have deployed drones equipped with thermal cameras to monitor endangered native animals.

These drones are helping improve conservation in Victoria by effectively tracking some of the most elusive and endangered native species, according to the University of Melbourne (UniMelb).

“Monitoring these animals is vital to their survival, but because many spend much of their time high in trees, finding them can be very difficult,” said UniMelb researcher Benjamin Wagner.

Also according to Mr. Wagner, endangered wildlife populations are declining due to habitat loss, wildfires and climate change.

Research shows that drones can survey up to 10 times more forest than traditional lighting methods, which require slow, labor-intensive walking at night and often miss animals, while also posing safety risks to surveyors.

Drones detected all nine species of arboreal mammals expected to occur in multiple areas, recording more than 1,000 observations of native mammals, wild birds and ground-dwelling animals such as kangaroos, wombats, wild deer and cats across all study sites, according to the researchers.

“We are now expanding the above research and have conducted more than 100 additional drone surveys, detecting more than 4,000 wildlife species to explore their recovery in Victorian forests,” Mr Wagner added./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/australia-drone-applications-and-cameras-heat-monitoring-dangerous-vehicles-post1062147.vnp