Drones for snow leopard conservation

Drones have made rapid advances as a useful tool for wildlife conservation. From habitat mapping to individual animal counts, drones have the capability in areas previously served by satellites and aircraft. The authors provide an overview of drones in wildlife studies and report the results of a case study in Mongolia's t Ikh Nart Nature Reserve where they used a thermal-equipped drone to detect argali and ibex. From a height of 100 m, flights were programmed to record the same area as ground surveys—4 km long × 2 km wide. With the aid of a digital elevation model, the mapped results showed that the majority of animals in the primary sample transect would have been obscured from ground observers. Overall, the project moved drones closer to becoming a practical tool for censusing snow leopard prey.