An unmanned airboat disguised as a crocodile narrowly escaped being attacked by a hippopotamus while serving as a data collection tool for researchers studying hippo droppings and their effect on the water quality in Kenya’s Mara River. The river is home to around four thousand hippos, which makes it too dangerous for a human to go there and collect research data.
An unmanned airboat disguised as a crocodile narrowly escaped being attacked by a hippopotamus while serving as a data collection tool for researchers studying hippo droppings and their affect on the water quality in Kenya’s Mara River.
The river is home to around four thousand hippos, which makes it too dangerous for a human to go there and collect research data.
Researchers from Yale University, the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, and Platypus LLC used the airboat to investigate the cause of fish in the river dying in great numbers at certain times.
They wanted to confirm the theory that hippo feces was building up on the bottom of the river when the water level is low and then washing downstream when it rises, causing oxygen levels in the water to plummet and effectively killing many fish.
A guide suggested that the researchers disguise a small boat as a crocodile to navigate it through the hippo infested waters.
The plan worked for the most part, but a video has surfaced of the airboat being chased away by one of the hippos.
Analysis of data from the study is ongoing to get to the bottom of why so many of the fish in the Mara River have died so suddenly.
