Star-hunting technology designed to pick out galaxies in the night sky is being repurposed to spot poachers who are threatening the world’s most endangered animals.

The Royal Astronomical Society has teamed up with ecologists at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) to conduct trials using drones which are fitted with infrared cameras capable of automatically detecting the thermal signatures of creatures in the dark.

Usually the technology is used to sweep the sky looking for the glow of far-off stars or galaxies which are invisible to the naked eye.

But the team has worked alongside Chester Zoo and Knowsley Safari Park to reprogramme the software with a library of animals and environments so it can spot different creatures in a variety of landscapes.

The first field trials were carried out on endangered Riverine rabbits in South Africa last September and next month the team will travel to Malaysia to study orangutans, followed by spider monkeys in Mexico and river dolphins in Brazil.