Is AI taking over our jobs? Secretly manipulating our shopping habits? Undermining our skills? Is technology making things easier, or are we becoming all the more dependent? Should we start gearing up for a terminator style apocalypse? We could Google a survival guide — but wait! Is AI watching us search this right now?
These thoughts sound familiar, right? Technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) in particular, and its growing expanse over the global market is the talk of the hour. AI has become a common occurrence in our everyday life, especially since the emergence of applications like ChatGPT or Sora AI. Given all the good and bad that AI brings, one deserving area remains much less acknowledged: Technology and AI in Wildlife!
Nature: the driving force of life
Since aeons ago we’ve treated nature as merely a resource to conquer — reducing it to forests, animals, and minerals to be plundered for profit. But nature isn’t just a backdrop to human ambition; it is ancient, enduring, and infinitely more powerful than we are. From wildfires and tsunamis to earthquakes and floods, it reminds us — again and again — that it holds the final word.
So why protect something that seems so unstoppable? Can’t we just let nature reclaim what we’ve taken? After all, during the COVID-19 lockdowns, we saw how quickly it bounced back — skies cleared, pollution dropped, and green crept back into concrete.
It reminded us of what we keep forgetting: we can be nature allies too. And that when nature suffers, so do we. This isn’t just a battle between industry and environment—it’s about survival. After decades of relentless exploitation, nature is showing its breakdown as forest fires rage, polar ice melts, and climates shift — these are not random disasters, but nature’s response to the destruction we’ve caused.
Technology in Nature
Technology is often seen as an invention directly opposite to nature. However, instead of rejecting technology, wildlife conservationists have unraveled its potential by directing it with the right intentions. The same AI that powers our modern conveniences is also reshaping how we conserve and coexist with nature. The intersection of innovation and ecology is yielding fascinating, and sometimes unexpected results. Here are some examples of how conservation collaborated with technology is a reliable safety net:
- Virtual zoos: Bridging education and conservation
Those days are over when zoos are strictly meant to be physical spaces. Virtual zoos are transforming wildlife education and conservation in a number of significant ways. Various zoos like the Singapore Zoo, the Sydney Zoo and the San Diego Zoo are using virtual reality (VR) technology that simulate the animals’ habitats, creating virtual visits for students, researchers and animal lovers from across the globe. They can now gain wildlife education without disturbing animals and their environments.
- Ethical Alternatives to Traditions and Rituals
In a country as steeped in traditions as India, elephants hold cultural significance but encounter welfare concerns due to neglect of health and upkeep. In a groundbreaking initiative, an NGO in Tamil Nadu, introduced the state’s first robotic elephant for a temple in Ooty. Made from eco-friendly materials, this innovation replaces the need for live elephants in rituals, promoting animal well-being and maintaining cultural traditions.
- SMART: Combating Poaching
It is no secret that poaching remains one of the deadliest threats to wildlife all around the world. To counter this, a technology called Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART) is being used in global national parks and wildlife reserves to combat poaching. Rangers document poaching signs, sightings, or patrols using handheld GPS devices or apps, while AI identifies poaching hotspots and predicts poachers’ movements. One of the successful implementations of SMART has been reported from Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve that has seen a considerable decline of poaching since this technology came into place.
- Fighting Deforestation with Drones and AI
To battle deforestation, we need solutions that match the speed, scale, and strategy with which trees are being taken down — and drones are delivering just that! Tech startups from Canada and Australia utilise drones to replant extensive areas. So how does it work? With the use of AI, drones survey the land to locate best spots to plant, and then quite impressively also shoot seed pods into the soil. Australia has reported that this revolutionary technology can plant 40,000 trees in a day, a reforestation process that is far faster and more effective than any traditional method.
- Mangrove Monitoring for Coastal and Wildlife Protection
Sundarbans derives its name from the ‘sundri’ tree, translating to ‘beautiful forest’ from Bengali language. India’s Sundarbans are more than just scenic — they’re critical to coastal defence and tiger conservation. But mangrove degradation puts both ecosystems and communities at risk. To combat this, ManglarIA — an AI-powered project that uses sensors and data analysis to monitor and protect mangrove ecosystems, is being used. Here, satellite imagery analysed with machine learning tracks mangrove cover loss, and conservationists can then intervene before significant damage is inflicted. It has also helped to conserve significant tiger habitats and protect coastal communities from cyclones.
- Restoring Coral Reefs in Warming Oceans
As coral reefs bleach and die under rising temperatures, restoration efforts are now being given a technological boost. Through a method known as mineral accretion technology, low-voltage electricity is used to help the health of coral reefs and encourage them to grow at a faster rate so that aquatic life that depends on it is supported. These projects have shown considerable results by reviving reefs in Indonesia, the Maldives, and in the Caribbean.
- AI in Railway Tracks: Preventing Wildlife Accidents
Wild animal fatalities on railway tracks are a growing conservation concern, especially where train routes cut through forests. To address this issue, the Coimbatore Forest Department has deployed an AI-enabled surveillance system along 7 km of the railway track between Palakkad, Kerala, and Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu that is prone to elephant accidents. This system uses thermal imaging sensors attached that can detect the presence of elephants that cross over the busy railway track that passes through Walayar-Madukkarai forests. It successfully alerts train operators in real time, enabling them to slow down or stop the train to prevent collisions.
- Protecting Big Cats with Precision Tracking
Tiger conservation relies on knowing each cat by its stripes — literally! AI can analyse stripe patterns that are as unique as human fingerprints to identify and track individual tigers across reserves. M-STrIPES (Monitoring System for Tigers – Intensive Protection and Ecological Status) is an AI-driven initiative by India’s National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) that uses Global Positioning System (GPS), General Packet Radio Services (GPRS), and remote sensing to gather essential information from the field. This monitoring system was introduced in Pench Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra and is helping conservationists assess tiger populations more accurately, detect poaching threats, reduce conflict scenarios, and improve habitat management.
Inventions with great power are subject to neglected overuse. But whether or not technology becomes a hero or foe is within human control. The examples cited above show how technology has begun to touch the tip of the iceberg and is also becoming a conservation ally. It helps us to think of how technology can be tapped in a positive way to secure the species of our planet.
Embracing innovation and respecting nature’s primal energy is our shared responsibility. If we can do that, we can not only save our world, but learn to coexist with the origin of all life itself: Mother Nature.
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Feature image: Akash Dolas/ Wildlife SOS
