EOLAS Insight is leading a project which uses its technology to help conservationists count African elephants from space.

The Scottish CivTech alumni start-up is working with the Peace Parks Foundation and has received funding from the European Space Agency to conduct animal censuses using satellites.

The Glasgow-based company is using AI and high-resolution images to detect elephants roaming across vast areas of a national park in Southern Mozambique.

The business said that the technology could “vastly improve” the monitoring of threatened elephant populations across a wide range of habitats.

“Technology can play a key role in tackling what is arguably the biggest challenge facing humankind - conservation and the climate crisis,” said Doug McNeil, EOLAS managing director. “Detecting animals in satellite imagery will have its place in preservation projects of the future, and we are incredibly excited to be the first UK company to demonstrate this capability.”

The project builds on previous work the firm conducted with NatureScot as part of the CivTech Accelerator Programme in 2020, which used similar techniques to monitor Scotland’s wild red deer.

This project combined imagery collected by satellite and light aircraft to detect the animals.

EOLAS said it hopes the technology will offer a greener and cheaper alternative to helicopter-based counts in future.

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