How Bristol drones could help save our most endangered species

The University of Bristol and the Bristol Zoological Society (BZS) are pioneering a new approach to wildlife conservation, involving machine-learning and drone technology, which could impact wildlife conservation projects worldwide.

With funding from Cabot Institute for the Environment, BZS and the EPSRC’s CASCADE grant, a joint team flew to Cameroon in December to trial the use of drones, sensor technologies and deployment techniques to monitor populations of the Critically Endangered Kordofan giraffe at Bénoué National Park.

....Keen to identify the best strategy for airborne wildlife monitoring, BSZ approached Dr Matt Watson from the University of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences, and Dr Tom Richardson from the University’s Aerospace Department and a member of the Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL).

The team were able to draw on successful collaborations using drones to monitor and measure volcanic emissions to begin developing a system for wildlife monitoring.