Scientists will count endangered kangaroo rats via satellite
Posted  | Comment  | Recommend E-mail | Print | A giant kangaroo
rat in a photo provided by the Nature Conservancy. Scientists
are turning to satellite technology to determine how climate
change and rainfall patterns are affecting the endangered
species' remaining habitat. By John Roser, University of
California, Berkele via AP FRESNO, Calif. — Scientists plan to
use satellite photos to count Giant Kangaroo Rats, the first-
ever monitoring of an endangered species from outer space.
Scientists will examine images taken from the same satellite
used by Israeli defense forces to find the circular patches of
earth denuded by the rats as they gather food around their
burrows. From that they plan to get the first-ever accurate
population count of the rodents, a bellwether for the health of
a parched plains environment.  By comparing the photos to 30
years of satellite images being released this month by the U.S.
Geological Survey, researchers hope to bette