Autonomous drones are dropping rat poison bombs on this island

The Galapagos Island of Seymour Norte, off the coast of Ecuador, has a vicious invasive rat problem. Despite efforts to curb the spread of the rats in 2007, conservationists found the tiny island was infested yet again a decade later by two common rat species. This time, they employed a high-tech solution to fight the vermin: autonomous drones that fly along predetermined paths and drop bombs of rodent poison, Wired reports. Invasive rodents have decimated native species like iguanas and a number of birds by eating their eggs, and offspring. The government of Ecuador partnered with Island Conservation, an American non-profit, to devise a solution: six-rotor drones specially designed to drop an immense 44 pounds of rat poison pellets per trip.