Scientists Are Turning Dead Birds Into Creepy Flying Drones
Scientists are making dead birds into covert drones in an effort to observe nature without disrupting the environment.
If you were annoyed by drones before, imagine if one that was made out of dead bird parts flew by you. Yes, dead bird drones are a thing and, thankfully, they’re not widely available yet. Futurism reported on the abominations that researchers are actively working on perfecting.
Right now, the dead bird drones aren’t everything the mad scientists want them to be. They’re still dealing with the noise issue, as dead birds don’t typically make loud, buzzing drone-like sounds when they fly. They’re also working on making the wing movement more realistic because this invention wasn’t already horrifying enough.
The dead bird drones are made with real dead birds, such as pigeons, that are repurposed to become cursed flying devices. Right now, the capabilities of the drones include hovering and gliding, giving them a semblance of realism. However, it seems unlikely they will be able to do anything about the empty, dead eyes.
So, why make dead bird drones in the first place? According to the researchers and several papers about drones, they could be used to observe nature with something a little more natural and subtle than a regular drone. While there isn’t too much that is natural about these, it makes sense that they might be able to covertly enter a natural environment and be convincing enough to trick animals.
Of course, the dead bird drones can also be used in a ‘Big Brother’ capacity, allowing the government to use them for spying. While the article mentions that these could be used for strategic purposes, like military operations, there’s also the chance they could be used to spy on regular citizens covertly. While the ‘Birds Aren’t Real’ meme is entertaining enough on its own, it’s safe to say that no one wants that to become a reality.
If you’re wondering when you can buy a bird drone of your own, you might have a little while to wait. According to the article, these drones aren’t necessarily easy to make. Although, if you found a dead bird and happen to have a drone, an experienced taxidermist might be able to pull something like this off — if that’s your thing.
The difficulties of making these dead bird drones makes it seem like it wouldn’t be super feasible to offer them commercially. Or if someone did, it would have to cost a pretty penny. It seems these bird corpses will be destined to be part of research and military operations for the foreseeable future.
It remains to be seen if they’ll be able to make these drones fly as fast and as nimbly as the real thing, but it certainly seems like they’re dedicated to the cause. We’re hoping that we won’t see too many dead birds flying around our neighborhoods soon, but maybe that’s what the future has in store. The plus side is if you had ‘they’re going to start making dead bird drones’ on your bingo card for 2023, you can go ahead and cross it off now.
