Military Invention Protects Wildlife

The massacre of elephants in the Mouadje rainforest in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a lamentably common occurrence. But now, seismic sensors developed for the battlefield are being adapted by conservationists in Africa to fight back against illegal poachers, and loggers. The detectors are buried along forest footpaths to pick up the footfalls of hunters, and eavesdropping sensors are being hidden in trees to listen out for elephant calls — and gunshots. Data is also being borrowed from environmental monitoring satellites to reveal any illegal logging that can devastate the animals’ habitat