Wildlife Drones

About

Wildlife Drones makes a drone-mounted radio-tracking system that maps and streams real-time offline locations of radio-tagged animals, enabling distant signal localization and access to rugged terrain for wildlife researchers.

Mission

Wildlife Drones has developed a world-first drone radio-tracking system that maps radio-tagged animals in real time via a small drone clip-on and displays live location data even when offline. The system can track hundreds of animals simultaneously, locate signals from a distance to avoid disturbing animals, and provide safe access to rugged or dangerous terrain. It can track any combination of radio-tagged animals (for example predator and prey, invasive and threatened species, or stock and farm dogs), enabling broader and faster coverage than traditional handheld radio-tracking. The technology was used to track Swift Parrot movements, marking the first successful drone radio-tracking of multiple small birds with live base-station results. Founder and CEO Dr Debbie Saunders conceived the idea from her own tracking challenges, and the business received early support from CSIRO’s ON and the ACT Innovation Connect programs. A seed investment of $670,000, including Uniseed and angel investors, will fund development of user-friendly alpha and beta product versions and the launch into the Australian and New Zealand markets for wildlife researchers and invasive species managers.

Quick Facts