Astrophysicists sometimes turn to thermal infraredtechnology to help them find and study stars. The technology\u2019s been around for decades, and it\u2019s constantly evolving to reveal more about the cosmos. Now, some of these scientists are bringing their expertise to the world of conservation. If thermal cameras are capable of spotting distant stars, well, they must be capable of finding animals here on Earth, right?
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In what the researchers are calling the first official collaborationbetween astrophysicists and ecologists, a team from Liverpool John Moores University went in search of Bornean orangutans, a critically endangered species<\/a> that hides in the forests of Borneo, a southeast Asian island. A presentation Tuesday at the Unifying Tropical Ecology Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, will highlight the way drones equipped with the astrophysicists\u2019 infrared imaging technology can more quickly and effectively count the number of individuals orangutans in the forest canopy more effectively than people can. This experiment\u2019s success has opened the door for experts to use this star-gazing technology to examine other rare and endangered species.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The study, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Unmanned Vehicle Systems, involved a drone pimped out with a regular camera and a thermal camera and a group of field ecologists. As soon as they arrived in the field, the battle was on: Who could spot the most orangutans? The drone took 28 flights from May 10-15, 2018, at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre and the Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Project. Each flight lasted only 10 minutes because of the drone\u2019s battery life.<\/p>\n However, in that short time, the drone was able cover nearly a half square mile, spotting every orangutan humans on the ground saw\u2014and then some. In total, the drone found 41 orangutans whereas the field team could find only 28. The drone also captured images of pygmy elephants and proboscis monkeys.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Of course, this tech isn\u2019t without its limitations. It can miss any animal hiding beneath a branch, and it can be hard to figure out if you\u2019ve double counted an individual. Plus, this star-inspired tech works only before 9 a.m. or after 7 p.m. in these particular rainforests. Any other time, the environment is way too hot to properly locate the heat signatures of the animals. <\/p>\n \u201cWe know that there are some ecologists who thought that this kind of environment would just be impossible to see any animals because it\u2019s so warm and humid in the tropical rainforest,\u201d Claire Burke, an astrophysicist at Liverpool John Moore University and co-author on the research, told Earther.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n That\u2019s been a big issue in the past when researchers have attempted to use thermal infrared technology to find wildlife; it often reads the warmth from the background and causes confusion for the experts trying to discern distinct animals. Previous attempts to use thermal cameras for this purpose have also run into resolution issues, according to Burke.<\/p>\n The astrophysicists\u2019 souped-up thermal cameras can hopefully help save researchers\u2019 hours spent searching for orangutan nests from the ground to keep track of their populations. This traditional method takes a lot of money\u2014and time. While the exact number of Bornean orangutans left isn\u2019t certain, conservationists believe a little over 100,000 remain<\/a> in the wild.<\/p>\n The researchers have coined a new name for their field that brings together ecologists and astronomers: astroecology. They\u2019ve developed a four-person astroecology group that\u2019s been around three years now. Their goal? \u201cBy applying methods and technology from astrophysics, engineering, and computer science, we aim to help solve major global challenges such as mass extinction, environmental pollution, climate change, and disaster response (search and rescue),\u201d according to the website<\/a>.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Orangutans are the first species this team has shown it can track using tools from astrophysics. The scientists are currently finishing up another paper using the same star-spotting tech to look at spider monkeys, Burke told Earther. Her team\u2019s next trip will be to Madagascar to study Lac Alaotra bamboo lemurs. <\/p>\n Each animal has its own thermal fingerprint of sorts, so the scientists are developing an algorithm to help drones identify different animals. The goal is to build an autonomous drone\u2014that can fly for longer than 10 minutes\u2014to count these species and help protect them. <\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re hoping to apply this to all sorts of animals,\u201d Burke told Earther, \u201cRhinos, elephants\u2014you name it, we want to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Once these algorithms can distinguish the thermal fingerprint of humans, the drones should also be able to alert park rangers when humans are in protected areas where they shouldn\u2019t be. The idea is to eventually catch poachers this way. <\/p>\n \u201cIf it sees a human somewhere they shouldn\u2019t be, then [the authorities] can go catch them before they do any harm,\u201d Burke said. <\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n This technology is only beginning to find its footing in the conservation space, but it\u2019s off to an exciting start.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Astrophysicists sometimes turn to thermal infraredtechnology to help them find and study stars. The technology\u2019s been around for decades, and it\u2019s constantly evolving to reveal more about the cosmos. Now, some of these scientists are bringing their expertise to the world of conservation. If thermal cameras are capable of spotting distant stars, well, they must be capable of finding animals here on Earth, right?<\/p>\n In what the researchers are calling the first official collaborationbetween astrophysicists and ecologists, a team from Liverpool John Moores University went in search of Bornean orangutans, a critically endangered species that hides in the forests of Borneo, a southeast Asian island. A presentation Tuesday at the Unifying Tropical Ecology Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, will highlight the way drones equipped with the astrophysicists\u2019 infrared imaging technology can more quickly and effectively count the number of individuals orangutans in the forest canopy more effectively ..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdpair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdpair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdpair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdpair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdpair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mdpair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18946\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdpair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdpair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdpair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}