Professor Donald Rodriguez from the California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI), is leading a team of 20 students in a ten-day trip in Costa Rica with the objective of mapping the locations of crocodiles with the help of a drone.

Crocodiles in the Pacific of Costa Rica have become numerous, sometimes presenting a threat to humans, and this trip is precisely part of a larger project that hopes to keeping reptiles and humans at a safe distance from one other.

According to the Ventura County Star news site, “The state-of-the-art technology being used on the study trip came from CSUCI associate professor Sean Anderson’s fleet of about 20 flying robots; Anderson heads the school’s Ecological Restoration Lab ”.

“With this robot, they may count, say 10 crocodiles by flying overhead, instead, of say, eight that might get counted by someone standing on the side of a river”, explained Anderson.

This is the second time that Professor Rodriguez has taken a group of students to Costa Rica with the purpose of conducting ecological research,

The CSUCI is keeping a blog about their investigation in the country, in which student Efraín Flores stated:

“While walking to Tamarindo, I had to cross the estuary where locals had told me were infested with crocodiles. I saw a few myself swimming the estuary. Once crossed, I began to survey tourists that crossed my path. There were many tourists at the beaches, streets, and local eateries.It was astonishing to find out that even though all of them had visited Tamarindo before, only one was truly aware about the crocodiles in the estuary. To some, I had to explain that they were only 100 meters away from crocodile infested waters.”