TAMPA, Fla. — In an effort to count wildlife more accurately, a University of Florida (UF) research team developed a new way of using drones.
According to UF, the drones helped confirm the world’s biggest known nesting site for a threatened turtle species, the Giant South American River Turtles.
Researchers used aerial images and statistical modeling to document more than 41,000 turtles along the Amazon’s Guaporé River.
“We describe a novel way to more efficiently monitor animal populations,” said lead study author Ismael Brack, a post-doctoral researcher within the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. “And although the method is used to count turtles, it could also be applied to other species.”
The Giant South American River Turtle is threatened by poachers who sell its meat and eggs, according to UF. With this technology, researchers said they now know that females congregate each year in the summer to nest in the river sandbanks between Brazil and Bolivia.
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