Sydney, Australia, July 8 (EFE).- An environmental project that combines drones and artificial intelligence (AI) with the ancestral knowledge of an Aboriginal community aims to protect the native koala population from forest fires in Australia.
Equipped with drones with thermal imaging and artificial intelligence, rangers in the remote Quandamooka Aboriginal community can locate koalas more easily, an arduous task previously carried out on foot through the thick vegetation.
The project aims to better plan cultural burning, a traditional practice of the Aboriginal community to protect the land, plants, and animals, the NGO World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said Monday.
The 2014 wildfires on the island of North Stradbroke – about 56 miles from Brisbane – devastated 70 percent of the natural habitat. More wildfires followed in 2018 and 2019.
The koalas on North Stradbroke Island are “Australia’s only naturally occurring island koalas and have been isolated for about 8000 years,” the WWF said.
“Koalas are a special animal for Quandamooka people. We have a custodial responsibility to make sure they’re happy, healthy, and thriving,” the NGO’s Indigenous Land Management specialist and member of the Quandamooka community, Djarra Delaney, said in the statement.
The koalas, which in the Aboriginal language means “no drink” because 90 percent of their hydration comes from the eucalyptus leaves they eat, are endemic to Australia and are threatened by forest fires and tree felling.
The impact of the climate crisis, accidents when crossing roads, attacks by other wild and domestic animals, and chlamydia disease, which causes lesions on the genitals and eyes, infertility and blindness, along with fatal complications, also threaten their survival.
Figures on the wild koala population vary between those released by authorities and those published by activists.
According to official figures, there are 450,000 Koalas in southern Australia and 180,000 in eastern parts of the country.
However, the Australian Koala Foundation believes there are only between 50,000 to 80,000 Koalas throughout the country. EFE
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