Many of us are aware that drones can be used for a wide variety of surveillance purposes. Yesterday I posted about the use of drones to inspect oil and gas infrastructure. However, in an article published today on MarketWatch.com, Sally French writes about the use of drones to protect elephants by herding them away from farmland. How do you herd an elephant herd? Scientists discovered that elephants are afraid of the sound of drones (presumably since they sound like a swarm of bees). Experiments showed that most elephants move away from the sound in less than one minute. Rangers at Tanzania’s Tarangire National Park have thus used drones to herd elephants away from farmland where they are likely to be killed.

Sally French is Social Media Editor for MarketWatch. Her article also discusses the use of drones to monitor rhinos in India, Kenya and Namibia. She tweets @SAFMedia but she is also ‘The Drone Girl‘ and tweets @TheDroneGirl.