Biological science students at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo have schooled themselves in the art of drone piloting as part of their noble pursuit of counting members of local elephant seal populations.
The group of professors, graduate, and undergrad students at Central California’s Cal Poly are deploying their drones above seven different regional beaches to take an improved gander at residing elephant seals. A main objective in the Vertebrate Integrative Physiology’s Lab and Field effort will be to get an accurate count of the pinnipeds, which can amass in preferred spots from anywhere from 200 to over 1,000 individuals. Those census missions will be flown while the creatures are ashore for their mating season, which will wind up later this month.
Once the post-amorous elephant seals clear out and back to sea, the group will study the (possibly X-rated) photographs captured by the drones to get a fix on their numbers. Those may also offer an idea on how the…
