Searching for endangered species with star detection technology

If you can find stars far away, can you find animals on Earth? Liverpool’s John Moores University research team has been investigating the endangered Borneo Orangutan in Southeast Asia’s Borneo Forest for the third year. However, it is said that it is using the thermal infrared measurement technology that was originally used to detect stars.

Thermal infrared measurement technology has been developed and utilized for decades by astrophysicists. At a recent Unifying Tropical Ecology Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, we discussed how to efficiently determine the number of orangutans by equipping drones with such thermal infrared technology.

According to the journal (Unmanned Vehicle Systems), a group of ecologists who participated in the field study and drones conducted an experiment to see which side of the wild orangutan was well-located. The drone was equipped with both a general camera and a thermal infrared camera.

The drone flew 28 times from May 10th to 15th, 2018. Due to the battery problem, the flight time per flight was 10 minutes, but as a result, the drone found 41 orangutans as it progressed more than 1 km2 at a time. On the other hand, 28 animals were found by a research team on the ground.

Of course, the technology is not yet perfect. For example, you may not be able to find something hiding under a certain point, or you may have a double count. In addition, it is said that the drone flight time is limited to 17 to 20:00 in order to avoid the danger of not being able to accurately detect the temperature of animals due to the heat unique to tropical rain forests.

It is said that it is not limited to orangutans using astrophysical technology, but now also organizes thesis on spider investigation. In the future, it is expected to be used for investigation of lemurs living in the Madagascar lake area. In the future, it aims to develop an algorithm that can identify more animals such as drones and elephants flying over 10 minutes. In addition, if a drone can detect humans, it can be used if people infiltrate the expansive national park. Related information can be found here .