#EpicDuckChallenge shows we can count on drones
A few thousand rubber ducks, a group of experienced wildlife spotters and a drone have proven the usefulness and accuracy of drones for wildlife monitoring.
A University of Adelaide study showed that monitoring wildlife using drones is more accurate than traditional counting approaches. This was published today in the British Ecological Society journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution.
“For a few years now, drones have been used to monitor different animals that can be seen from above, including elephants, seals and nesting birds. But, until now, the accuracy of using drones to count wildlife was unclear,” says the study’s lead author, Jarrod Hodgson from the University’s Environment Institute and School of Biological Sciences.
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Image: Lead author Jarrod Hodgson, University of Adelaide, standing in one of the replica colonies of seabirds constructed for the #EpicDuckChallenge.