Although when we think about technology the first thing that comes to mind is a smartphone, an incredibly fast computer or even a drone flying over our heads bringing us a package, technological advance has also improved the lives of animals in many ways and is helping to rescue endangered species.
The example of Cambodia is one of them. This Asian country is home to 16 globally endangered species, such as the Asian elephant, tigers or leopards, many threatened by poaching. Conservationists are working precisely with a Harvard University computer scientist to stop this poaching that is bringing so many species to the brink of extinction. This is just one of a growing number of collaborations bringing together technologists and conservationists to fight to protect wildlife on the face of the planet.
And it is that when it comes to protecting animals from poachers, habitat loss, pollution and climate change … the challenge is enormous . However, environmental researchers hope that technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), drones, GPS trackers, smart cameras and the cloud can give them the advantage they have been looking for.
Initiatives
SMART ( Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool ) is software, created by the World Wildlife Fund, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the London and Frankfurt zoos. This tool was created specifically to protect animals such as elephants, rhinos, snow leopards, and dolphins . It is currently being used in more than 2,000 locations around the world to monitor animal populations. Thanks to SMART, it is possible to collect, analyze and send data on animals, prohibited activities and protection groups, allowing rangers to respond more efficiently to animals in distress and protect wildlife that lives in vast areas of land. .
GPS tracking was one of the first technologies to help researchers monitor and study endangered species. And it still is. With a GPS tracker, scientists can view the location data in real time, retrieve the tracker, and download the data. For example, the Canadian Wildlife Federation used GPS technology to track leatherback turtles or radio telemetry to track bats.
The Internet of Things is also an important tool in saving endangered species. Without going any further, we cannot forget that two thirds of rhinos are at risk of extinction due to poachers who kill them and harvest their horns for their supposed medicinal properties. IoT is helping conservationists protect these animals, but in a very creative way. Instead of paying attention to the rhinos themselves individually, herd animals such as zebras and impalas are monitored. There are many in the reserve and poachers rarely do anything to them. By studying the movement of these animals, conservation teams can determine if there is a human threat present in the reserve. And it is that the animals of the herd tend to group when they face a lion or another large predator but, when they face a human, they do not gather, they disperse. This unusual behavior alerts rangers that someone is in the reserve who shouldn’t be there, and they can quickly dispatch anti-poaching teams to prevent invaders from reaching their target.
In the same way, researchers around the world are using a vast remote database to help protect endangered species. This genomic library enables the team to access vital data sets more efficiently than ever, thanks to a collaboration between the University of Sydney and Amazon Web Services (AWS). The software helps to greatly condense the work of scientists, enabling them to analyze massive amounts of data in minutes rather than hours, regardless of where they are in the world.
In the long term, the researchers intend to share this genome data publicly. “The ultimate goal would be to create a universal genomic library and tools that other researchers and conservation managers can access to make science-based decisions,” explains Carolyn Hogg, project manager.
According to the United Nations Environment Program, the Earth is in the midst of a crisis, with 150 to 200 species of plants, insects, birds and mammals going extinct every 24 hours. Biologists say it is 1,000 times the rate that is considered natural extinction. And a 2019 UN report indicates that approximately 1 million animal and plant species are in danger of extinction, many will disappear in just a few decades.
