Drones have become indispensable equipment for rescuers because of their ability to fly over and search in inaccessible and remote areas.

When a hiker went missing on the northern slopes of Monviso in Italy’s Cottian Alps in September 2024, the distance, hard terrain and changing weather made the search difficult and slow, Fox News reports.

Early this year the National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps used a drone to look for signs of Nicola Ivaldo. The unmanned aerial vehicle took more than 2,600 high-resolution photographs of a 183-hectare area, which an artificial intelligence (AI) software with color and shape recognition features then scanned and picked out those pictures where the surrounding environment showed mismatched colors and objects, according to Fox News.

In just a matter of hours, a photo showing the missing hiker’s red helmet was highlighted by the software, leading to the identification of the location to search. The Corps eventually found the hiker’s body in the area in July.

Meanwhile, another kind of surveillance is being conducted in the Tibetan tundra. The target is the herds of wild antelope roaming the Hoh Xil plateau.

The Chinese government wanted real-time monitoring of the migration, feeding, and mating behaviors of the endangered species endemic to Tibet, The Standard reports.

Instead of a drone, however, another antelope is being used to surveil the animals.

The spy antelope is a robot developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Hangzhou-based DEEP Robotics, according to The Standard.

The developers made the robotic ruminant nearly indistinguishable from the real antelope by giving it doe-like eyes and thick brown fur, the Hong Kong newspaper said.