Daniel Lukic hasn’t been piloting drones for that long, but his capturing of a school of cownose rays off the coast of Australia is enough to convince you he’s a master.
The Sydney-based amateur videographer was on Forster Beach when he was lucky enough to be present with his equipment during a rare migration of these rays as they passed by.
Numbering in the hundreds, Lukic’s video taken from above makes it appear like someone threw confetti in the water.
“There was probably 400 or 500, maybe even more. It almost looked like glitter,” he told ABC News AU. “I get pretty excited when I see this sort of stuff because it’s a single moment in time where you just had to be there.”
Marine biologists speaking with ABC suggested that maybe the rays gather in such large numbers (which is known as a ‘fever’ rather than a school) as a means of protection like other fish. The IUCN classifies the cownose ray as “data deficient,” and so doesn’t have anything to say about the conservation status of the animal.
According to ABC, they are normally seen in fevers of around 100 individuals, but the size that Lukic managed to record is either extremely rare, or not rare and scientists just don’t know much about their habits.
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In any case, the biologists said his footage may go a long way towards increasing scientific knowledge of the animal.
Lukic has also recorded dolphin pods swimming alongside sharks, which you can watch on his channel @Ausdronepilot.
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