Elephants roaming on a Kenyan wilderness. / Photo by: flightlog via Wikimedia Commons

Wildlife conservation group Save the Elephants is harnessing the power of big data to protect elephants found in Kenya’s Samburu National Reserve from poachers, according to Gavin Haines, writing for Positive News magazine. 

To carry out its work, STE relies on tracking software made possible by its partnership with Vulcan, a Seattle-based investment firm established by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
The tracking software enables the real-time tracking of tagged elephants that can be displayed on a map in an app. 

The tracking data can be used in mapping elephant migration routes and if there are poachers in places where they will pass through, STE will send a ground unit to help the elephants make it through safely.
Besides monitoring the elephants’ movements, the tracking technology also observes their behavior through specialized algorithms.
If an elephant is not behaving normally, an SMS alert can be sent to forest rangers who will act upon the matter. 

What technology is doing to the elephants, it is also doing to Amazon river dolphins which have been classified as data-deficient by the International Union for Conservation.
To collect the necessary data on these animals, WWF Brazil is using drones that gather data more quickly than traditional field research work.  


Not all solutions need to be cutting-edge as STE is also initiating another conservation program -- installing beehives along farmland boundaries.
Elephants are scared of bees and STE is using that knowledge in putting up bee barriers.
The installation of bee barriers has reduced unpleasant confrontations between humans and elephants by almost 80 percent.
Not only that, the bees also help pollinate farmers’ crops. 

But technology has its limits and there is no app that can eradicate poverty, the main reason that drives poachers to kill elephants.
Education and having a job are the best ways of addressing most wildlife crimes.