Wildlife Tracking Solutions.
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Species: North Island Robin / toutouwai (Petroica longipes) Location: New Zealand Status: Endemic native species The researchers needed to track North Island robins / toutouwai, a small passerine bird, following a conservation translocation in New Zealand. The robins live in dense forest, making monitoring difficult. Altitude Conservation provided a Multi-Track Drone Ranger system to assist. … Read more
Altitude Conservation is thrilled to receive an invitation to showcase our latest tech developments in the Innovation Hub at Fieldays 2025. Fieldays is the Southern Hemisphere’s largest agricultural event, taking place at Mystery Creek, New Zealand. It brings together thought leaders, technology innovators, and industry professionals to drive progress across agriculture and conservation sectors. Come … Read more
Chris Muller, Altitude Conservation’s director, is part of the panel discussion on Conservation Drones. “Drone technology is changing how conservationists do their work, presenting novel research methods and new perspectives.” https://scifest.org.nz/past-festivals/2024/drones-for-conservation
Altitude Conservation was selected for one of 10 places on the BNZ Growth Academy program for business success. “The BNZ Growth Academy is tailored to support businesses navigating growth complexities, ensuring they are equipped to make confident decisions and progress meaningfully. BNZ is committed to driving innovation and growth in the New Zealand tech sector.”
Species: Kea (Nestor notabilis) Location: New Zealand Status: Endemic native species, endangered Kea are the world’s only alpine parrot, and their numbers are declining. The researchers needed to track kea in New Zealand’s rugged Southern Alps to monitor their survival, breeding, and losses from predation by introduced feral cats.Altitude Conservation’s Multi-Track Aircraft Ranger allowed the … Read more
Species: Location: Colombia Status: Native species The researchers needed to track a number of native micro-bat species in Colombia to monitor their movement across the landscape, and interactions with wind farm turbines. Altitude Conservation’s Multi-Track Drone Ranger enabled the team to track bats more efficiently, and over greater distances than was possible with traditional ground … Read more
Species: Stoat (Mustela erminea) Location: New Zealand Status: Introduced pest species Introduced stoats are a major predator of native bird species in New Zealand. The researcher needed to track radio-collared stoats to monitor their dispersal range and movement corridors into a national park. Altitude Conservation provided a Multi-Track Drone Ranger system to assist, searching a … Read more
Species: Kakapo (Strigops habroptilus) Location: New Zealand Status: Endemic native species, critically endangered Kakapo are critically endangered, with surviving individuals confined to predator-free islands. Individuals need to be regularly tracked to monitor health and breeding. However, the rugged terrain makes ground tracking a slow and energy-intensive process. Altitude Conservation’s Multi-Track Aircraft Ranger provided the ability … Read more
Species: Yellow-eyed penguin, hoiho (Megadyptes antipodes) Location: New Zealand Status: Endemic native species, endangered The ‘Drone Ranger’ was initially invented to track penguins on a remote subantarctic island.Now the New Zealand-made tracking technology is being used to help conservation efforts around the world. The researcher needed to locate cryptic penguin nests as part of a … Read more
Dr Chris Muller’s PhD research saw him living on an isolated subantarctic island and developing new drone technology to gain insight into one of the world’s rarest and most endangered penguin species. During his PhD, Dr Muller developed a drone-based technology to help revolutionise wildlife tracking and monitoring efficiency in difficult terrain. Following the completion … Read more
An NZ Hi-Tech Award is one of the technology sector’s most sought-after accolades. They have been awarded over the years to New Zealand’s most successful high-tech companies, and highest achieving individuals. Altitude Conservation is honoured to be a finalist in the 2023 NZ Hi-Tech Awards, in the ‘Most Innovative Hi-Tech Hardware Product’ category. Read more … Read more
Founder Focus introduces entrepreneurs and innovators working on the next generation of new business startups, social enterprises and small businesses. Our unique tech was developed and proven in the isolated and rugged sub-Antarctic. Endangered yellow-eyed penguin nests are difficult to locate due to thick vegetation, steep topography and inclement weather. Traditional nest-finding methods were not … Read more
For three years from 2015, Massey University Ph.D. candidate Chris Muller was on a subantarctic wildlife-tracking mission, battling near-impenetrable bush on the Auckland Islands to find the nests of yellow-eyed penguins. He quickly realised that aerial tracking would be much faster, safer, and more efficient than trying to cover the terrain on foot. “It absolutely … Read more
Species: Flatback sea turtle (Natator depressus) Location: Australia Status: Endemic native species Flatback sea turtles breed on beaches in northern Australia. The researcher needed to track sea turtle hatchlings to determine if they were affected by artificial light from nearby wharves and ships. They used a remote-controlled boat to imitate the offshore movement of a … Read more
Species: Flatback sea turtle (Natator depressus) Location: Australia Status: Endemic native species Flatback sea turtles breed in northern Australia and have a restricted distribution compared to other sea turtles. They are vulnerable to a number of human-induced threats, includinghabitat loss, predation of adults and eggs, fisheries by-catch, pollution, and climate change. The researcher needed to … Read more
Species: Yellow-eyed penguin, hoiho (Megadyptes antipodes) Location: New Zealand Status: Endemic native species, endangered Yellow-eyed penguins are endangered and declining on mainland New Zealand. However, little was known about the southern population which breeds on remote Sub-Antarctic islands, as the isolated and inhospitable conditions make research extremely difficult in the area. The researcher utilised Altitude … Read more
Massey PhD student Chris Muller has won the Innovate 2018 competition for drone-based technology that has the potential to revolutionise the monitoring of animals. The win is further validation for Drone Ranger, a Massey ecentre incubator company, which was kick-started via Massey University’s annual Go Innovate startup contest for students with clever ideas supported by … Read more
Species: Yellow-eyed penguin, hoiho (Megadyptes antipodes) Location: New Zealand Status: Endemic native species, endangered Yellow-eyed penguins are endangered and declining, but knowledge of the isolated Sub-Antarctic populations was data-deficient due to the challenging terrain. The researcher needed to locate cryptic forest-nesting yellow-eyed penguins in thick sub-Antarctic vegetation, but ground-tracking methods were prohibitively slow. Altitude Conservation’s … Read more
Innovate is a business competition where entrepreneurs have the chance to pitch to potential investors to create a viable business, presenting to judges in a live “Shark Tank” format. Massey PhD student Chris Muller won the Innovate 2018 competition for drone-based technology that has the potential to revolutionise the monitoring of animals.
Chris attended a ceremony at Government House to receive a bravery medal from the Royal Humane Society of New Zealand, after saving the life of a woman he pulled out of a burning Havelock North house. The Royal Humane Society was established in October 1898 to bestow awards for bravery in New Zealand. The Royal … Read more
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Wildlife Tracking Solutions.
Aim Higher, Achieve More.