They break in after sunset — teenagers, usually — armed with AK-47s, chainsaws and night-vision goggles. Moving quickly is essential. Rhinos are frightening creatures, after all — especially when they're charging towards you, horns lowered, legs pumping, in the darkness of the jungle.

Poaching has always been a dangerous operation, and yet despite the odds, it's increased twofold in the past 18 months. In Africa, it has singlehandedly pushed several species to the brink of extinction. National Geographic reports that rhinos in particular have been slain at a rate of one every 11 hours, since 2013. That's on top of the more than 1,700 killed off worldwide since 2011.

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One conservancy in Kenya is hoping to reduce that trend. Ol Pejeta, the 90,000-acre fenced-off reserve in the country's Laikipia District, is unleashing a drone into its skies later this month to monitor the area for illegal hunters.

Robert Breare, who works in strategy and innovation at Ol Pejeta, told Mashable the decision came during a brainstorming session on technology and its role in conservation.

"Poaching has reached pretty epic levels, most notably in rhinos and elephants," he said. "One of the problems when you have thousands of acres of wilderness is that it's near impossible to be at all places at once, especially when you only have a handful of rangers patrolling. What this does is put an 'eye in the sky' to monitor things we just can't see from the ground.

"[It's] first and foremost about deterrence — letting any would-be poacher know that there is someone in the sky watching their every move," he said.

Breare and his colleagues purchased the drone, codenamed "Aerial Ranger," from American company Airware back in January. The total cost was $70,000, half of which the group raised through an Indiegogo campaign.

The electrically powered drone is customized with a high-definition camera for day operations and infrared thermal imaging for night missions. Each flight is expected to take around 90 minutes, covering roughly 50 square miles three times a day, during which the machine will monitor each of Ol Pejeta's species and transmit a live-streamed video back to base. The drone is unarmed — if poaching activity is spotted, the staff's rangers will head to the area and fend off the hunters themselves.

The overall kicker, Breare said, is Aerial Ranger's autopilot technology. "In researching this whole thing, the autopilot feature was a real 'ah ha!' for us. [It] ultimately governs ease of operation, the ability to integrate data from multiple sensors and the efficiency of the whole operation. It should be a smooth process from both sides."

Now, after months of licensing, testing and intense training, the plane is finally ready to take off on its first mission.

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Ol Pejeta was founded in 1997. It employs 190 rangers, only 40 of whom are armed. It's home to a variety of animals, such as non-indiginous chimpanzees, buffalo, leopards, elephants, lions and — the highly endangered — black and white rhinos. There are 110 rhinos total in the reserve, Breare said, including four of the last-known remaining seven northern white rhinos.

Poaching attacks are sporadic but always unexpected. The last heist was on March 14, when a group of hunters killed and stole the horn from a black rhino, called Upendo. At a nearby conservancy, 11 rhinos were killed in the past year.

So why the sudden increase in killings? It comes down to basic economics: A recent flux in demand for rhino horns in eastern Asia, particularly Vietnam, has sparked a substantial poaching market, one in which hunters' methods are becoming more sophisticated and tougher to track down with each attack.

Julian Rademeyer, a South African journalist and author of Killing for Profit, a book that highlights the history of the illegal horn trade, told Mashable a lot of what's fueling the market is still a mystery.

"It's a hard one to pin down. Part of the problem is that we really don't know much about the markets trading the horns," he said. "If you look at Vietnam, where the market is most prominent, you see an economy that's been growing spectacularly — particularly in the past 10 years. You see rhino horns being given as gifts or decorations, so in a way, they've become a sort of status symbol."

In certain parts, he said, there's a long-held belief that rhino horns have a potent medicinal power to cure headaches, fevers and, according to some claims, even cancer. None of it has been scientifically proven, though.

"There were two studies, as far as I'm concerned, that looked at rhino horns in correlation with rats and their health. None found there to be any benefit whatsoever to using it as a drug," he said.

Prices for the horns are also tough to determine. Some rumors claim a typical horn is equivalent to the price of gold on the black market; Radameyer said he's heard of prices reaching close to $50,000 a kilogram. But, as most illegal market prices operate, it fluctuates frequently.

Regarding Ol Pejeta and its upcoming drone flights, Radameyer said he's not surprised — a handful of other conservancies have talked about similar actions — and agreed an "eye in the sky" will help monitor the vast area of wildlife.

"I think it will work to a degree," he said, "but really, nothing beats a well-equipped ranger. Drones come in handy because they can spot movement — they're an intelligence-gathering tool. But you need to keep in mind the size of these places. Drones can help you know where to look, but when it comes down to it, manpower on the ground is still the key to stopping this."

Breare feels the same way. While he's optimistic Aerial Ranger will prove to be a valuable "scare" tool, he said it's only part of a solution that's still being figured out.

"We don't want people to see the drone as a silver bullet solution and expect there to be a sudden halt in poaching," he said. "There's an epidemic right now, but this is just one part of an overall armory we are using to tackle it. If we can play just a part in reducing poaching, I'd consider it a success."

Aerial Ranger is expected to make its first flight at the end of June. What other ways have you seen technology merge with conservation? Tell us below.

Homepage image via Philippe Desmazes/AFP/Getty Images; Mashable composite, images courtesy of NASA; remaining images courtesy of Ol Pejeta Conservancy