Drones are becoming useful tools in understanding the living environment of African chimpanzees, which are endangered and facing extinction, according to a report in TakePart.

The World Wildlife Fund estimates there are fewer than 300,000 African chimps left in the wild. Effective surveying and monitoring are crucial to any conservation effort. Their living environments can’t be preserved if experts don’t know where the chimps are, TakePart reports.

A chimp drone study was conducted over two months in tree canopies in Loango National Park in Gabon, a country along the Atlantic Ocean in equatorial Africa. Researchers used drones to identify fruit trees favored by chimps. They tested how well drones could detect known chimpanzee nests high above the tree canopies.

The drone study was a joint effort between researchers from Liverpool John Moores University in England and Netherlands-based environmental advocacy group International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Poaching is a problem for chimps. Highly intelligent animals, they shy away from humans but drones don’t seem to bother them much, TakePart reports. The drones can help seek out the chimps without sending them into hiding.

“Before this study it was unknown if this technology would work for African apes,” said Serge Wich, coauthor of the study, in a university press release published Monday. “This study shows that drones are also a promising tool to assist African ape conservation.”

Drones can gather information about chimps much faster than traditional survey methods, researchers said. A drone can capture multiple photos during a 20-minute flight in an area that would take researchers on the ground hours to cover.

Drones are being used in efforts to save other species from poaching in Africa, including elephants and rhinos. The world loses three rhinos a day and an elephant every 15 minutes — an unsustainable situation,  Slate reports.

“We don’t have to find poachers, we just need to know where the rhinos are likely to be,” the Slate report said.

Drone imaging has also been used in Alaska to track endangered Steller sea lions, and in Jamaica to monitor for illegal fishing, according to TakePart.