Beginning in 2003, Arizona biologists flew endangered humpback chub in a 55-gallon drum beneath a helicopter, moving them above a waterfall to warmer habitat beyond non-native trout

Imagine a helicopter flying low over the red rocks of the Grand Canyon. Hanging underneath it by a rope is a 55-gallon barrel drum, sloshing with river water. Inside are roughly 300 baby humpback chub, a fish found almost nowhere else on Earth. This isn’t just a fancy stunt, but rather a practice that has been conducted almost annually since 2003, according to a field account from the Arizona Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office .

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