A drone, 7 GoPro cameras, 2 Wi-Fi GoPro set off remotes, a Canon DSLR, a number of digital camera lenses, 7 heavy obligation tripods, 8 reminiscence playing cards, 8 walkie-talkies, 7 excessive capability energy banks, a anemometer, numerous charging and information switch cables, an optically stabilizing binocular, a 4TB exterior onerous drive, all packed in two black army grade pelican circumstances. I nonetheless bear in mind the glances that I acquired from folks on the airports whereas bringing all my analysis gear from the USA to India in the summertime of 2017. I seemed like a person on a mission… an important mission. It was close to sure that I might be pulled out on the safety examine at each airport. I had my elevator pitch prepared on how all these devices had been to assist me unravel the mysteries of the flying dragon!
I used to be touring to the Agumbe Rainforest Analysis Station (ARRS); nestled within the Western Ghats of Karnataka, the Agumbe rainforest is dwelling to certainly one of many species of gliding lizards belonging to the genus Draco present in Asia. Famously known as the flying dragons of the animal kingdom, these magnificent, but cryptic creatures are usually not your typical gliders. Measuring roughly a palm size, they launch from treetops and unfold their wing like Batman’s cape. As soon as airborne, they deftly manoeuvre the jungle maze, actively controlling their aerial descent and overlaying distances over 100 occasions their physique size in lower than a number of seconds. When it is time to land, they reorient themselves like a parachute deploying from a fighter jet, slowing down and touchdown on their supposed goal tree.
My aim was to know the thriller behind their easy and well-choreographed gliding behaviour, and the devices had been the important thing to unlock this thriller.
So, what was my recreation plan? My staff and I might arrange a makeshift flight area cordoning off two bushes within the jungle. One could be the takeoff tree and the opposite, the touchdown tree. Lizards could be caught and launched on the takeoff tree. The 7 GoPro cameras — 5 mounted on tripods and one every on the takeoff and touchdown bushes — would concurrently report a glide from totally different angles. Every digital camera was linked to an influence financial institution in order that it could possibly be repeatedly charged for prolonged bouts of recording. The walkie-talkies had been held on the tripod into which I might communicate and report audio notes (ambient temperature, wind pace, animal behaviour), and in addition use the audio to sync frames throughout all cameras. The Wi-Fi distant would set off begin/ cease recording for all of the cameras. The cables had been the underlying community connecting every little thing collectively. All these devices needed to work in unison for the submit recording computer-vision wizardry to work and sew all of the views collectively and produce three-dimensional place information. This may type the idea of all my evaluation.
Did it work? As is the case with most issues in life, some improvisation (‘jugaad’) was required. The primary ‘jugaad’ got here with the GoPro cameras. Being motion cameras, GoPros are ultra-portable and rugged, able to dealing with excessive (kind of) situations. Or at the least that is what I believed. Within the scorching and humid tropical climate, when temperatures reached near 35C, a number of of the cameras would invariably overheat and routinely swap off. Shedding any of the cameras was like dropping a chunk of a jigsaw puzzle — with out it, the image could be incomplete. This was sure to occur, and a repair was vital. We sourced plastic plates from the close by city as private umbrellas for every digital camera. This didn’t assist. We painted the plates white to replicate daylight higher. This didn’t work both. Time was operating out, particularly provided that I had only a month earlier than the monsoon hit and the lizards’ exercise dropped drastically.
Utilizing plastic plates to maintain the warmth of the GoPros
Photograph Credit score: Pranav Khandelwal
Enter Shankar CM, the station manager-cum-electronics wizard. Inside a number of hours of reconsidering our choices, we determined to construct private cooling rigs for every digital camera. Due to Shankar’s ingenuity, we sourced supplies from the close by city and pc followers from Bangalore. However the logistics posed one other dilemma. There isn’t a supply service and Agumbe is past Amazon and Flipkart. So Shankar got here up with one other native answer. The conductor of a state bus on the Bangalore-Agumbe route delivered the followers for us from a neighborhood store in Bangalore. Shankar spent a number of days making custom-made circuits to energy the followers utilizing the facility bricks. Lo and behold, every digital camera had a private cooling system with a security internet round it to stop any hurt to the lizard from the spinning blades. The ability financial institution would now cost the digital camera and run the fan. We did a take a look at run and the cameras might now run for greater than 4 hours with out powering off.
The second ‘jugaad’ – the dragon catcher. We needed to spot (utilizing binoculars) and catch lizards perched on tall areca palms in order that they might then be launched within the flight area for recording. The lizards had been usually excessive up within the bushes and it was a wrestle operating round looking for one which was inside arm’s attain. Shankar’s intelligent creations got here to the rescue once more. Utilizing tripod poles and a steel tong, Shankar was in a position to make an extended pole (6m) with a horseshoe formed wire connected to the tong at one finish which was wrapped with a thick mushy padding and material hanging from it. A string linked to the horseshoe formed wire hung on the different finish. When pulled, the string would shut the horseshoe, wrapping it across the tree trunk; this is able to pressure the lizard to climb downwards, and proper into our ready palms! This dragon catcher may appear rudimentary and will not immediately qualify as ‘tech’, however this contraption proved to be probably the most helpful items of gadget within the forest to seize lizards for recording.
I can go on and on about the usage of know-how – how the drone helped map the jungle panorama to measure the lizard territory, to the usage of DSLR digital camera to seize qualitative behaviour information and all the gorgeous footage of the work that you just see right here. However none of this is able to have been doable with out the group of like-minded, curious folks that helped me arrange and use the devices that enabled information assortment in ways in which weren’t doable earlier than. I’ll in all probability exit on a limb and say that it was these devices that allowed me to satisfy so many individuals, share my love for analysis, and type a neighborhood which I now name the ‘Draco household’.
The ultimate cooling rig utilizing pc followers
Photograph Credit score: Pranav Khandelwal
Pranav Khandelwal is an Indian researcher fascinated by the workings of the pure world round us. He research the underlying processes that allow animals to maneuver in complicated spatial environments and the way it may be utilized to real-world functions. His analysis closely depends on utilizing consumer-grade know-how as a instrument to amass behavioural information in real-world settings.
Shankar CM focuses on custom-made options for Ecological analysis gear. He has labored in distant areas in India engaged on initiatives associated to animal monitoring and conservation.
This collection is an initiative by the Nature Conservation Basis, underneath their programme Nature Communication to encourage nature content material in all Indian languages. Should you’re fascinated about writing on nature and birds, please refill this form.
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