Could robotic animals spying on real animals gather better research data?

I don’t know about “better”, but would have little doubt about “more”.

I think it was National Geographic that did a similar study with penguins & it concluded that they didn’t do that much better than a human because they were so different that they just didn’t fit in. They did get in closer than humans & eventually gave the humans more data to study, but the project was dropped as it was considered unsuccessful.

This isn’t exactly what you’re referring to but Dr. Edith Widder is using robotic light displays to attract deep sea creatures. It’s pretty incredible.

Absolutely!
Hippo cam
Cobra cam
Spy termite mound, really?
Who’s a good puppy?

I saw a program with a robot dolphin, but I didn’t find anything on it on YT. There was one with a turtle, but it wasn’t very good.

Well, there has been a lot of stuff on NOVA involving fake animal cams. I think all it does is highlight how animals react when humans aren’t around.

The cams I find exciting are made to look like a log. Elephants are trained to carry them into areas where humans would be a disruption.

What could happen if and when scientists put AI in those robotic animal spies?

They combine to destroy us.

^^I could see that for real. Spreading viciously deadly virus in human populations around the globe.