Turns out drones rub bears the wrong way, too

Drones flying near American black bears in Minnesota caused the animals’ heart rates to soar, even though few bears showed any outward symptoms of stress, according to a new study led by University of Minnesota researchers.

The findings, published in the journal Current Biology, could help researchers learn to better deploy drones to study animals without adversely affecting them and could help provide insight into how drones’ rising presence could affect sensitive or endangered populations.

Biologists are increasingly using unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as UAVs or drones, to track animals in habitats where a human might not be able to reach (or might not be welcomed), the study’s authors said.

Here’s the problem: While drones and other robotic explorers might appear to be comparatively less disruptive than a human’s presence might be, it’s also unclear what the extent of their actual impact is. Just like a human presence, drones also may affect the quality of data that scientists get back.

“UAV flights introduce a new and unique stressor that has the potential to be more frequent and induce higher levels of stress,” the study authors wrote. After all, if you want to study animals in their natural habitat, you want to make sure they are acting naturally and not responding to your data-collecting device. As drones become more common in general, their presence could have unforeseen consequences on wildlife, particularly endangered species.