Wildlife biologists have put drones to work counting whales, checking bird nests, and nabbing poachers. Now, they’ve designed a drone that can hover within fast-flowing swarms of bats as they zip across a darkened nighttime sky.
The drone—or “Chirocopter” (named after Chiroptera, the scientific name for bats)—is equipped with a microphone to record echolocation chirps (sounds that bats use to navigate) and a thermal camera that can “see” bats by detecting their body heat. Similar technology has been used to record bats from the ground and from towers, but the Chirocopter has an advantage because it can be placed anywhere in 3D space, the team reports this month in Methods in Ecology and Evolution.
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