I am currently positioned at the edge of Tau Waterhole in South Africa’s Madikwe Game Reserve. On the other side of the muddy pond, a lone bull elephant is flicking his tail. He stands gazing at the arid landscape beyond.
Sadly, I haven’t been posted to South Africa to research this article but am sitting in my London kitchen watching a live stream of the pachyderm on Explore.org. The website broadcasts day and night from various wildlife hotspots worldwide, allowing anyone to drop in and watch nature.
The stream at the Tau Waterhole is just one example of how technology is helping us get a better picture of life on Earth. And the need for this monitoring is greater today than ever. Scientists and campaigners have been alerting the world to the destruction of species for decades, yet their warnings are becoming ever starker. Concerns about a ‘sixth mass extinction’, caused by human activity, have now entered mainstream consciousness.
Biodiversity refers...