Big Brother-style surveillance gives new insight into Amazon’s hidden wildlife

A Black vulture (Coragyps atratus) is pictured a top of a tree on the border of the Jaraua River at the Mamiraua Reserve, Brazil's largest protected area, in Amazonas State, on April 24, 2019. - The Mamiraua Sustainable Development Institute is a research unit contracted by the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications (MCTIC) to manage, together with local communities, the Mamiraua Sustainable Development Reserve (RDS), Brazil's largest protected area, located in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, which hosts the greatest biodiversity on the planet. Combining science and traditional knowledge to preserve biodiversity and ensuring the livelihoods of communities that sustain their livelihood from the rainforest, the Institute shows that it is possible to exploit natural resources without destroying the environment. (Photo by EVARISTO SA / AFP)

TEF, Brazil: Scientists are deploying ultra-sensitive sensors in the Amazon to collect images and sounds of the rainforest’s rich biodiversity in real time, in an effort to track preservation efforts. 

The Big Brother-style Providence Project was launched two years ago by French scientist Michel Andre of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and Mamiraua Sustainable Development Institute in northern Brazil.