Drones are pretty interesting devices to own, and when they are used the right way (such as to catch fish), then it is certainly a wonder to behold. However, there are also many other issues raised (pardon the pun) concerning drones in mid-flight – privacy included, which has resulted in the drone being shot at. What about animals and other wildlife – do they get agitated by the presence of drones? This is apparently so for at least one chimpanzee, who saw the drone making its rounds in mid-air before she decided to grab a stick and give it a nice whack, knocking said drone out of commission as you can view in the video above.
vThankfully, the drone which was swatted out of the sky happened in a trial run, which should be able to provide some pretty useful experience to the videographer controlling it to be more careful in the real deal. It looks as though both noise and the unfamiliar appearance of the drone were the reasons for agitating the group of chimpanzees – apart from excitement, of course.
Jan A. R. A. M. van Hooff, science supervisor for the zoo, shared, “At this stage the significance of what was happening was not obvious to the team. The operator of the drone had clearly underestimated the significance of the fact that both individuals had carried with them a long twig when they climbed the scaffolding. This is not a frequently observed behavior of these chimpanzees.” Now that was certainly an act that most humans would take, too, swatting the offensive drone out of the sky if it were to invade your privacy unannounced.
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