Increased levels of poaching are driving rhinoceroses to the brink of extinction, and the effects of this permeate far deeper into our ecosystem than you may realise. Thankfully, a number of tech-based tools are on hand to fight for their cause.
A recently released study that ran the duration of 30 years highlighted rhinos’ key role in managing the upkeep of diverse African grasslands. After pinpointing high- and low-density sites, the researchers found that 60 to 80 per cent more plant diversity occurred in areas where these odd-toed ungulates preferred to spend their time.
Rhinos’ presence and their selective grazing habits deem them to be keystone species for a diverse ecosystem in two ways. Not only do they encourage the growth of a wider range of plants, but they also ensure smaller grazing animals – such as zebras, gazelles and antelopes – have a diverse plate of survival food as well.
The unfortunate side to this new research is we may not have these megaherbivores on our side for much longer. Once abundant throughout Africa and Asia, rhinos are suffering at the hands of an increased number of poachers. The Western Black Rhino was declared extinct in 2011 for this very reason, and all five of the remaining species are on the UICN list of threatened species.
This begs the question: what is being done to save rhinos and how is technology playing a part in this?
The answer comes in the form of a partnership between the World Wildlife Fund and Google, and their ‘Wildlife Crime Technology Project.’
WWF received a $5 million Google Global Impact award at the end of 2012 and last month they released a report on how the money was spent. They chose the African country of Namibia for their pilot project and over the last year have deployed a series of innovative anti-poacher solutions. These include a vast range of cameras and sensors for reconnaissance flights, Radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips, and real-time reporting and monitoring of poachers, rangers and animals. These smart tools interact with each other in key areas to track the movements of rhinos, keep poachers at bay, and to protect the team from the other wild animals in the rhinos’ stomping ground.
The WWF has also teamed up with the World Conservation Union in a program called TRAFFIC. They use a combination of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with thermal energy detection as a means to identify poachers’ body heat on the ground.