At the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, there are 4 Northern White rhinos. Those 4 rhinos constitute 57% of the total North White rhino population – there are only 7 in the world. And those rhinos are under constant threat due to strong demand for rhino horns – which in parts of the world are thought to (but don’t) have healing powers.
Those 4 rhinos live on the 90,000 acre Conservancy – that’s an area about six times the size of Manhattan. That area is patrolled by 120 rangers. Which means that there aren’t nearly enough people for the Conservancy to keep an eye on its most endangered animals. Not just rhinos, but also several other endangered species as well.
To help protect their animals, the Conservancy has turned to an Indiegogo campaign to raise $35,000 for an autonomous unmanned drone that can help monitor the area and notify rangers if there are illegal hunters around. The brains of the drone will be provided by Unmanned Innovation, which builds autopilots for different kinds of aircraft. The drones will be equipped with cameras, and endangered animals can be tracked by the drones using their RFID tags.
“If they see people in areas they shouldn’t be, they can guide rangers immediately to the right spot,” Unmanned CEO Jonathan Downey told me.
The drones have a 50 mile range and can stay in the air for about two hours before they have to swap batteries. Downey told me that they’re a much less expensive alternative to what the Conservancy uses now for aerial verification – manned aircraft.
If this first drone is successful, the Conservancy plans on building more drones to both monitor the animals and allow people from all over the world to virtually visit the animals of the Conservancy.
As of this writing, the Conservancy is just shy of raising $15,000 – which is $20,000 short of their goal. The campaign ends on January 20.
Source: Forbes