Tens Of Thousands Of Migrating Turtles Captured by Breathtaking Drone Footage (Pics & Video)

Technology doesn’t just improve humans’ lives; it’s also a useful tool for conservation. Drones, for example, make it easier to observe and track endangered animal species. Researchers recently used one of these devices to measure a population of green sea turtles — and the footage is leaving the world speechless. Ever seen 64,000 migrating turtles in one shot? Well, here’s your chance.

Since 1984, scientists have been marking thousands of green turtles with paint – a difficult and time-consuming task – before visually counting individual animals and thus making a sound estimate of their populations on Raine Island. "Previous population survey methods involved painting a white stripe down the green turtles' shell when they were nesting on the beach. The paint is non-toxic and washes off in a couple of days," explained Dr Andrew Dunstan from the Queensland Department of Environment and Science in a statement. "From a small boat, we then counted painted and non-painted turtles, but eyes are attracted much more to a turtle with a bright white stripe than an unpainted turtle, resulting in biased counts and reduced accuracy."