Commercial-Mining Drones Keep Getting Attacked By Eagles (abc.net.au) 136
An anonymous reader summarizes an article from ABC News:
The world's seventh-biggest gold producer has lost more than nine drones because of eagle attacks. "People couldn't believe I was able to get such a good photo of an eagle airborne," complained surveyor Rick Steven at a conference sponsored by the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. "But I didn't... Another eagle took that photo... I was getting attacked by two eagles simultaneously." The specially-constructed drones carry a $10,000 camera for high-resolution photos and equipment that produces high-detail contour maps of potential mining areas, and so far the company estimates they've lost more than $100,000 worth of technology to eagle attacks. They've tried camouflage -- including disguising the drones as another eagle -- but unfortunately, according to Stevens, the eagle is the "natural enemy" of the drone.
One drone's video is interrupted by the sudden appearance of an eagle, followed almost immediately by footage from the ground by a sideways drone camera. That video -- included in the article -- ends with a reminder that "Eagle attacks on drones have been documented across the world, to the point where some European police forces are now training them to take down unauthorized aircraft."
One drone's video is interrupted by the sudden appearance of an eagle, followed almost immediately by footage from the ground by a sideways drone camera. That video -- included in the article -- ends with a reminder that "Eagle attacks on drones have been documented across the world, to the point where some European police forces are now training them to take down unauthorized aircraft."
Re:Zap (Score:5, Insightful)
No, but sharpening the propeller blades will take care of the problem. Buy your props from Ginsu.
I love drones, but do not fuck with the eagles. I love them better.
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Sheesh! Lighten up, Frances. and the 'democrat' moderator should too! What kind of idiot took that seriously?
I made the whole comment in jest. You're the one all but hurt.
Francis.
Friday night crowd's getting pretty drunk in here, and trying to pick fights with the sober people.
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Get a room you two =p
He'd never go back to sheep.
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Sheesh! Lighten up, Frances. and the 'democrat' moderator should too! What kind of idiot took [props from Ginsu] seriously?
An "idiot" like me would take that seriously. It's only reasonable to speculate on the damage going the other way, that is, the drones harming the eagles. Gold prospectors aren't known for their compassion for wildlife. Their solution will probably be to use shotguns.
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Some drones are safer than others [youtube.com].
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The root problem is the cost of the damage.
I would implement a parachute system into the design of the drone.
Parachute systems for drones already exist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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I didn't mean injury [Re:Zap] (Score:1)
What's with the bad mods? I did NOT mean to kill or injure the eagles, just scare them enough to end the attack. It's comparable to an electric fence for cattle: it doesn't kill the cattle, just frightens them.
What about the eagles? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm only worried about them and don't give a shit about the drones. Can they get hurt by the attacks?
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I'm only worried about them and don't give a shit about the drones. Can they get hurt by the attacks?
Not likely. The drones in the article are lightweight, mostly plastic and composites. Without seeing them up close it's hard to appreciate just how big an eagle can be, and those talons are no joke. The drones wouldn't stand a chance.
Re:What about the eagles? (Score:4, Interesting)
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Wish the eagles out my way would attack drones.
Re: What about the eagles? (Score:1)
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You have no idea how much damage lightweight plastic can do. These things are essentially flying lawnmowers. Go look at R/C forums for pictures of the tissue carnage these things can cause. The motors are extremely powerful and the props are very strong. They can chop you up easily without even phasing them. They aren't toys and can be quite dangerous.
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An eagle's talon may win in a match with a small plastic blade, but the contest isn't always set up that way. (BTW, searching on this subject allowed me to discover egg, claw, and talon sets https://goo.gl/qHyUsm ) Myth Busters does a demonstration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgeRchTHxVk
Birds are fragile. Sure, some have threatening talons and beaks, but the rest of their bodies are optimized for flight.
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They can chop you up easily without even phasing them.
That's "fazing [dictionary.com]". Seriously. Please don't use words you've only seen other children use on the internet. You don't know what they mean.
They aren't toys and can be quite dangerous.
You don't have feathers, which are quite protective. The birds are going for the centers of the drones, because that's what they do to other birds. There is a risk, but it is not as large as you suggest.
A good-sized heli is far more dangerous than a quad of the same mass because of the inertia of the single rotor.
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>A good-sized heli is far more dangerous than a quad of the same mass because of the inertia of the single rotor.
They are also more fragile themselves. Back in 1992 or so, during the unrest in that phase between F.W. De Klerk announcing the end of appartheid and Nelson Mandela winning the election - there was a front page story in South Africa after a kid brought down a police chopper with a sling-shot. Rock hit the prop - prop broke in half.
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Don Henley is certainly doing just fine. Glenn Frey, however... not so much.
revenge? (Score:1)
I wonder how much eagle habitat the mining company has destroyed.
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That depends. How much power did you use to boot up your computer and post that you resource using hypocrite!
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To be fair - these are gold prospectors, and very little mined gold goes into electronics (and less every year). Frankly if we limited gold use to actually doing stuff with it, we could supply ourselves for the next 5000 years or so with what we've already mined. Nearly all the gold they find will get dug out at great energy and cost, smelted down at great energy and cost... then after going to all that trouble to get it out of the ground... locked up in an underground vault and guarded at great energy and
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Are you sure about that? Diamond mining has got to be right up there too. Digging up the ground and brutalizing Africans just so some stupid bitches can have shiny rocks on their fingers.
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Tough call - but I think more diamonds actually get used for things than gold. Those hard things actually have some practical uses - glass cutting and the like.
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Yeah, but the industrial diamonds are tiny, and also I thought that with natural diamonds being so expensive, the lab-made diamonds were actually cheaper and that industrial ones came from there now. In fact, I just looked it up on Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] and it says "It is estimated that 98% of industrial grade diamond demand is supplied with synthetic diamonds."
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So call it a tie then... two of the biggest mining industries - and among the deadliest (gold alone kills well over 3000 people a year) - ... and done for absolutely no useful purpose.
Eyes (Score:3)
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Yeah that so doesn't work with the vast majority of birds.
Important question unanswered (Score:1)
Were they golden eagles?
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Were they golden eagles?
If it's in Australia then they're probably Wedgetails, Aussie relative of the Golden Eagle.
.
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Even the birds are pro USA! (Score:1)
Even the birds are pro USA! and they are good at killing the junk from china
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ALL Eagles are pro-American. 'Cuz 'Murrica.
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they are good at killing the junk from china
On the other hand, if someone told the Chinese that eagle feather is rare and difficult to obtain, the eagle would disappear quickly. See what a good job they're doing with the elephants - 50 years old elephants that weigh a ton or more get killed for 40 pounds of ivory that gets sold in Beijing; in 10 years elephants will be a thing of the past. If they could do that to eagles it would save those mining companies a lot of money. Win-win, except for the animals.
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Wrong.
You must convince them that eagle eggs make bigger dicks.
Dude you need to work on your cultural sensitivity. That kind of stuff is for the Japanese (the ones killing the whales). Keep up with things.
Lab experiment (Score:1)
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My guess would be... the annoying drone buzzing around in its territory?
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I don't think it's a matter of the characteristics of the drone so much that it's intruding on it's territory. Birds can be quite territorial. I've seen smaller birds spend days attacking a "rival male" in its territory, banging into a window over and over (and over and over... I was getting close to pulling a shotgun on the little bastard).
Honestly, I'm not really convinced there's much of anything to be done short of making a stealth drone so quiet and tiny that it won't be noticed (good luck with that,
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...I'm not really convinced there's much of anything to be done short of making a stealth drone so quiet and tiny that it won't be noticed (good luck with that, as there's a reason for the phrase "eagle-eyed"), or using a drone so large and intimidating it won't be attacked.
Making a camera-drone tiny may be hard, but making it big wouldn't. If you didn't need to fight the wind, hanging the drone from a balloon would increase the size without a weight penality. Perhaps a strobe at the right frequency and color would work. I agree with hackwrench. A little research would solve the problem.
Already know the answer to this one (Score:3)
Your mining drones [chruker.dk] just have to be protected. If you want to use scout drones, Hobgoblins [chruker.dk] are generally regarded as the best.
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Your mining drones [chruker.dk] just have to be protected. If you want to use scout drones, Hobgoblins [chruker.dk] are generally regarded as the best.
There's a reason Eve Online is now free. The reason is that it's not worth money.
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Actually when I saw "mining drones" I first thought the same, lol.
Excellent (Score:5, Interesting)
No worries about getting in trouble using a gun against damn drones over your property, just take up falconry or have a sympathetic neighbor who does
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But birds of prey have other uses for these times. Like ripping the hair extensions out of looting and rioting thugs. Grabbing megaphones of protester leaders.
How do you mine commercials? (Score:1)
Or, is someone just bad at using-hyphens?
Eywa? (Score:1)
The eagles are right (Score:5, Informative)
I'm on the side of the eagles on this one.
Re:The eagles are right (Score:4, Interesting)
However, implying that the eagles are attacking due to the mining interests possible future actions is ludicrous. Also, mining is necessary to maintain the lifestyle yo enjoy. Otherwise go post on the internet with two sticks and some fur. I am all for protecting the eagles and the environment, but recognize our human needs too. And, I for one think flying a drone over prospect areas is much less intrusive than larger aircraft, and even less negative than slashing a road into a prospect area.
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implying that the eagles are attacking due to the mining interests possible future actions is ludicrous.
Eagles are apex predators, they never eat dead meat and they're also the most advanced teachers in the animal world, dropping their kids from high in the sky and catching them over and over on their open wings until they figure out how to fly. They're as badass as it gets, more than many people I know.
If they're against mining, I'm selling all my shares in those mines because they're fucked.
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I volunteer at a raptor rehabilitation center. I promise you from first hand experience, eagles will eat dead meat if available. Not only is that the number 1 way they get lead poisoning, but it's also how we feed them. I have video of a bald eagle eating pre-killed rat.
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"they never eat dead meat". Better tell David Attenborough that - Planet Earth 2 took some amazing footage of a golden eagle fighting off birds (crows, I think) that were pecking away at a dead animal. It then had to fight off another eagle.
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I have to agree with some of these siblings. Eagles most definately eat dead meat, they are scavengers and will eat whatever is available. When camping with the scouts, we often toss the fish carcases into the lake and watch the eagles grab them to eat them.
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The article you linked is terrifying.
The purpose of this very high flight is unknown.
They're up to something and we don't know what that is. Remember last time something like that happened? Pearl Harbor.
I'm telling you, if the eagles disapprove of mining, we should stop mining. Before it's too late.
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If they get lasers and team up with the sharks, we're doomed.
Sharks, or orcas. Those have a score to settle with us, thanks to the people at SeaWorld who've been kidnapping them, separating them from their families, and holding them almost constantly in tiny dark pens that make isolation holding cells in Supermax look like luxury (at least prisoners can walk in circle).
Mankind is like a crooked foreman in a sweatshop that's been using his position to extort bribes and sexual favors from helpless workers. Mistreated showbiz animals; lab test subjects; massacred whales
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https://www.google.com/maps/@2... [google.com]
Yeah, totally so small they can't even turn around. If only supermax was so tiny.
Perhaps you should reign in that hyperbole, it makes you look like a zealot.
Re:The eagles are right (Score:5, Insightful)
No where did I imply that the eagles were consciously recognizing that their future as a species was endangered. I was pointing out that their natural instinct to defend their turf happened to impede intrusion from humans as well as their natural opponents, other birds.
As for "human needs", given that this is Australia it's very likely that these are going to be huge mining operations that alter the landscape radically by moving cubic kilometers of rock. The easy picking are gone when it comes to minerals, so that is what happens in most of the world these days.
After this kind of mining the landscape is so torn up that there is not much left for any form of life after the mines are closed. That includes humans. Just look at the mountain removal for coal in the US Appalachians. They leave a shattered toxic landscape where the locals are stuck with horrible pollution.
Even without open pit or removing entire mountains there can be serious environmental consequences for more traditional mines. Take the toxic discharge from the Gold King Mine [wikipedia.org] mine in Colorado. Abandoned since 1924, it had been filling with acidic water with high heavy metal concentrations. In 2015 it burst open during an attempt by the EPA to clean up the sight. Significant amounts of toxic water spread downstream into New Mexico affecting Navajo lands where people subsist of locally grown produce and sheep herding. They depend on the river water for their livelihood.
So when you talk about human need, are you including or excluding the people who have to live where the mining happens? Do the Navajo count? Do the people of Appalachia count? What about the people in Oklahoma who are experiencing earthquakes for the first time in their lives? Remember that a lot of time when the word "need" is used, the real word is "greed".
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So your immediate reaction is to go against the miners despite the fact that mining is the means of getting the materials necessary for modern civilization. Mining can certainly be a messy business and miners have something of a reputation for being environmentally dodgy, but it's still necessary.
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Gold mining is hardly needed. Very little gold is actually used in anything resembling modern society, and is for the most part used as decorative items.
Eagles v 'Rape and Pilllage' Gold Mining company (Score:2)
I say one for the 'Little guy' but the little guy is one of the world's largest eagles with a wing span of 1.8 to 2 metres.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
A mining company like this will take all the gold out using open cut mining and leave a huge scar in the ground.
'Rape and Pillage' of the enviroment on a grand scale. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/. [wikipedia.org]
Respect the pecking order. Don't fly above them (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Respect the pecking order. Don't fly above them (Score:4, Interesting)
Me it's RC boats. I live in a city so it's the cheapest, quickest way to get my RC nerdery done. Apparently, for a dog's visual cortex, this:
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OdtfMNj... [ytimg.com]
looks like the most delicious roast chicken a dog could ever want. As soon as I put the boat in the water, every dog around will jump into the water and desperately swim after the stupid thing. Now I warn dog owners before I put the boat in the water!
One day a guy shows up with a Husky. He tells me not to worry, Huskies don't like the water. OK, fine. After he told me he never thought he'd see his dog chest-deep in the water! It was true however that this dog didn't go any further and didn't actually swim for it. But he also didn't expect to have to towel down his dog!
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LOL. Dogs are bred from wolves, which chase their prey down [youtube.com] - sometimes for miles - until it tires or stumbles and they're able to make the kill. So they're genetically predisposed to chase after things that move - squirrels, cars, tennis balls, thrown sticks. A boat in the water is a moving (chase-able) object with no distracting background, so triggers this chase instinct.
Cats likewise are stealth pouncers, so turning your back on th [youtu.be]
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probably more like a roast duck than roast chicken.
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Meh, it just shows we have no idea how an animal will interpret things.
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Meh, it just shows we have no idea how an animal will interpret things.
Meh, your response (and the AC response) show how out of touch you are with memes. You aren't even familiar with the ones which are over already. Not that this means you're a bad person. It probably means you have a life
Horse's head scene from the Godfather (Score:2)
A nesting pair of Cooper's Hawks in the back yard killed a crow, and they were batting around a dismembered crow's head to entertain their fledgling.
The crows will mess with a raptor, especially since they are more numerous. Like with the horse's head in the bed scene, I think the hawks were sending a message that this is not a good idea.
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The crows will mess with a raptor, especially since they are more numerous.
I once had a flock of crows settle on my lawn, like hundreds (I had a big front yard). It was like something out of a Stephen King novel.
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did you feed them french fries?
Give up (Score:2)
mother nature has won.
Ever since I was a kid... (Score:5, Insightful)
... I've hated this retarded construction: "More than" + some weird number -- high, specific, not round.
"The world's seventh-biggest gold producer has lost more than nine drones because of eagle attacks."
So... ten drones, then?
I just heard "over 46" somethings earlier tonight. That would be 47, I suppose?
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It's got to be some psychological thing; "if I say 'more than,' it'll seem more substantial than if I just say 'ten.'"
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I completely agree, the last more than 17 times was the final straw.
Re:Ever since I was a kid... (Score:4, Insightful)
It's an easy way of making an article still relevant given a lack of a timeline.
Over 46 will still be over 46 tomorrow.
47 may not be 47 tomorrow
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I have the same thing with time information.
"The event occurred last week (local time)"
Sure, I know about timezones. But is "last week" really so specific that we must be told that it happened at a 'local time'? Whose local time is that anyway: mine, or the time of the place where the event happened?
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"The world's seventh-biggest gold producer has lost more than nine drones because of eagle attacks."
So... ten drones, then?
Actually, no. It's more retarded than that. In this case, "more than nine" means exactly nine:
One crashed as a result of human error, while nine have been taken down by wedge-tailed eagles
It's a shame ... (Score:2)
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And apostrophe's.
disguising the drones as another eagle - oRLY? (Score:2)
How retarded are people in our times?
Like every animal of prey Eagles are very territorial. Of course they attack any other eagle, or bird of prey in their territory. Camouflaging a drone as an Eagle is like painting a big cross hair on it.
On top of that: the drones are pretty big. It is no surprise that a eagle is concerned about it and attacks drones, too.
I will try a reflective paint job (Score:2)
I want to try using that mirror paint on the inside of a lexan body shell. I'm planning to vacuuform bodies for my quads because I can't find good protective shells for them otherwise. I wonder what a bird would think of that... maybe stop to admire itself in the reflection ;)
Use 'em mining lasers! (Score:2)
Surely a mining machine can crush things with it's mining gear? Makes you wonder how a bird can knock over such heavy machinery? Oh, wait, it's only a surveying drone!
It is obvious... (Score:1)
Easily Solved (Score:2)
Eagles often attack gliders (Score:2)
Can be rather off putting. They tend to hit the leading edge of the wing, trying to break it, but come off second best. Sometimes they go for the canopy.
Eagles are generally good for fining thermals, and so we often join them in flight, which is a wonderful thing. But if they look aggressive, time to move on.
I was once attacked by a Magpie (size of a crow). The little bird flapped his way up a thousand feet to my height above a ridge and then dived at my canopy. I then dived after him, but was no contest of
Mines of Moria (Score:2)
"Moria... You fear to go into those mines. The Dwarves delved too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of Khazad-dum... shadow and flame."
Sounds like Gandalf is finally learning that he should just call the Eagles first and let them sort it out... :)