By Natalia Lima / Source: Ecorazzi

As poaching rates for rhinos keep growing in South Africa, officials are looking for outside-the-box solutions to save the endangered animals. Surprisingly, one group of students might just have found it.

Aleix Ripoll, Aleix Figueres, Hugo Bertiche and Arnau Garcia, four students from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), have designed the Ranger Drone; which could aid in the protection of rhinos in the wild.

“Natural parks around the world need new and cheap techniques to fight these crimes,” says a video of the drone. “Due to the extensive areas and the ease with which poachers can hide in the vegetation, it is necessary to keep watch from the air. Also, thermal vision is necessary to detect illegal hunters at night.”

The Ranger Drone the students created can do exactly that with its thermal cameras that can spot suspicious activity at Kruger National Park where most of the rhinos left in the wild live.

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