PROJECT ECHIDNA
Thermal drone detection for echidna conservation
Echidna Conservation through Heat Imaging, Detection, Networks and Analysis
Developing and validating practical thermal-drone methods to improve the detection and monitoring of echidnas and other difficult-to-detect wildlife.
Starting with short-beaked echidnas in Australia, Project ECHIDNA aims to build an evidence-based methodology that could ultimately support locally led conservation of threatened long-beaked echidnas in New Guinea.
What is Project ECHIDNA?
Finding echidnas is difficult. Even where they are known to occur, their behaviour, low profile and use of vegetation can make conventional surveys challenging.
Project ECHIDNA is testing whether thermal sensors carried by drones can help locate echidnas by detecting differences between an animal's heat signature and its surroundings.
The aim is not simply to show that a thermal camera can see an echidna. We want to understand when detection works, when it does not, and whether a repeatable and useful field survey method can be developed.