Who would have said that the GPS system, created by the United States Department of Defense, could help us study and protect Brazil diversity and natural beauty?
GPS technology is currently one of the main tools to help us find our location on the planet. However, the Global Positioning System can provide us with alternative uses.
With this in mind, the environmental team of the Delfina wind farm, built in the Brazilian town of Bahia, had an idea: to use technology to combat the extinction of species that inhabit the surroundings of our renewable energy plants.
This is how, for the first time, GPS devices are being used to guarantee the preservation of the environment and the survival of a native species: the blue macaw, also known as the hyacinth macaw, which is considered a treasure of Brazil, since there are only 1,260 specimens of the species left.
The GPS have already been installed in four of these birds, which, in addition to tracking their movement, dispersion, and use of natural habitat, make it possible to determine the preferred places for feeding, rest, and reproduction of the blue macaws, information valuable for studies that seek to save the species.
The experts who lead the field research have already analyzed the data received, which has been made available to other environmental agencies, and intend to continue the study by conducting the same experiment on another six birds, with the hope of providing information that will help to reverse their path towards extinction as soon as possible.