News, deep dives, and analysis — every Wildlife story, newest first.
Wildlife drone coverage tracks how drones are changing animal research and rescue, mostly by replacing methods that used to require getting physically close to the animal.
Marine research has moved the fastest. Researchers used drones to tag 22 humpback whales off Maui without a single boat in the water, and separately a drone captured a humpback whale birth in a documented world first, the kind of moment that would be nearly impossible to capture safely from a boat.
Thermal imaging is driving the rescue side of this desk. DJI Matrice 4 series drones multiplied German fawn rescues twentyfold ahead of mowing season, using thermal sensing to spot fawns hidden in tall grass before farm machinery reached them, an animal-welfare application with a clear, measurable outcome.
Practical guidance for anyone flying near wildlife or water is covered too, including how to fly a drone safely over water, and creative work involving wildlife shows up through events like the DJI SkyPixel contest naming ‘Africa Unseen’ its best video. Every wildlife drone story is in the feed below.
Last updated August 25, 2026 — the feed below updates with every new story.
A drone off the New South Wales coast filmed a humpback whale giving birth on July 28 — only the fourth complete humpback birth ever captured on film, and the first ever recorded from the air.
University of Hawaii researchers tagged 22 humpback whales off Maui this year by flying suction-cup tags onto their backs with drones, replacing a method that required putting a boat within arm's reach of a 40-ton animal.
A Bavarian wildlife group that once pulled 10 to 15 fawns a year out of meadows before the mowers arrived now saves between 300 and 350, and the difference is a thermal camera in the sky. Rehkitz-Rettung Mangfalltal, a volunteer rescue organization operating in the Mangfall valley south of Munich, has folded the DJI Matrice…
Walmart wants to park a drone launchpad in a North Carolina lot. More than 200 neighbors signed a petition to stop it. On Monday night, Lincoln County commissioners weighed whether the future of 23-minute delivery is worth the noise over Denver, North Carolina. It’s a small zoning vote, but it’s the exact fight that will…
Greg from Pilot Institute walks through the RTH settings, wind checks, battery margins, and crash recovery steps for flying your drone safely over water.
DJI and SkyPixel announced the winners of the 11th Annual SkyPixel Photo and Video Contest on April 27, naming “Africa Unseen” by ellisvanjason as the Annual Best Video in the Aerial Category. Slovak photographer Filip Hrebenda won the Annual Best Photo prize for “The Gate.” AYANG took Annual Best Video in the Handheld Category for…
Two Harvard mechanical engineering seniors have built a fixed-wing VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) drone from scratch to help marine biologists locate sperm whales tagged with VHF (very high frequency) transmitters off the coast of Dominica, according to a project profile published by Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Kuma McCraw…
Nobody told the harbour porpoises they were on camera. Good thing, too, because what scientists captured in Shetland’s waters is the most detailed look at harbour porpoise mating behaviour ever recorded in UK waters, as Oceanographic Magazine reported. A drone did what boats, binoculars, and decades of marine biology couldn’t. They showed up quietly, hovered…
By making it non-invasive. Researchers used drones to tag 22 humpback whales off Maui without a single boat in the water, and a separate drone captured a humpback whale birth in a documented world first, both studies that would have been far more disruptive to the animals using boat-based methods.
Thermal-equipped DJI Matrice 4 series drones multiplied fawn rescues twentyfold in Germany ahead of mowing season, spotting fawns hidden in tall grass before farm machinery reached them, a direct animal-welfare application of thermal drone technology.
Research and rescue get the deepest coverage, but recreational and safety guidance shows up too, including practical advice like how to fly a drone safely over water without disturbing marine wildlife or damaging the aircraft.
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