The “birds aren’t real” conspiracy may have just found a new leg to stand on. According to new research, scientists have managed to take dead birds and turn them into drones. According to a new report by New Scientist, a project that relies on putting drones into dead birds could help improve how we snoop on wildlife in the future.
Of course, these dead bird drones aren’t likely to only be used for watching wildlife. Instead, they’ll likely see some military usage as well, especially if engineers can make them blend in even more by using flapping wing drones.
The overall idea here seems to be focused on giving humans unbridled access to better wildlife surveillance. And it’s easy to admit how using dead bird drones that actually blend into nature could offer something like that. However, the implications of how this could be used for military purposes is, of course, concerning for some.
But until we really know more, it’s hard to focus on the negatives when there are a number of positives. Currently, surveilling wildlife can be difficult, especially if you’re dealing with animals that are still scared of humans. As such, having dead bird drones that can fly in unnoticed and without causing alarm could give us access to a wealth of data we don’t already have on animals.
Further, the drones, which can be seen in the video above, actually look very realistic. And that’s because the creators combined the bodies of taxidermized pheasants and pigeons to make it work. Of course, further development is needed to implement a more advanced range of motions, including the ability to land.
These dead bird drones aren’t the first time we’ve seen researchers bring dead animals back to life in one way or another, either. Previously, researchers transformed dead spiders into powerful grabbers in a weird and macabre experiment.
