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Groundbreaking new AI wildlife cameras assist in saving endangered wildlife

Jan 12, 2023 by Alex Baker Leave a Comment

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We’ve been so used to hearing about the downsides of AI that it’s easy to overlook the potential benefits. A pioneering new project has developed an AI-assisted wildlife camera in order to protect endangered wildlife better.

The University of Stirling teamed up with Dutch tech start-up Hack The Planet to come up with this innovative device. In terms, the AI assists the camera in actually understanding the images as it snaps them.

The cameras are designed to be able to recognize different species of animals, and humans too. They can identify moments of animal-to-human conflict that might involve poaching or other activities that put wildlife in danger. The cameras are set up on trails, like any normal wildlife camera. However, if they sense these moments of conflict, the cameras can alert the necessary guards.

It’s all pretty clever stuff. The system was successfully piloted in Gabon, central Africa, in an area with human-wildlife pressures. The cameras were able to identify elephants with ease and were able to alert the researchers effectively, despite being in a remote region with no access to the internet.

“Real-time data from smart cameras and other sensors could revolutionize how we monitor and protect the world’s most threatened ecosystems,” says Dr Robin Whytock, Post-doctoral Researcher at the University of Stirling. “The advances made in this study show that real-time data could be used to make better decisions during time-critical situations.”

During the pilot in the Gabonese rainforest, five camera systems took more than 800 photos in 72 days. 217 photos of elephants were taken. The AI model achieved an accuracy of 82% in recognizing elephants. Rangers received an alert from the system within seven minutes on average.

All this is great news for both wildlife and humans. Both people working with the animals and locals. Despite a worldwide ban on ivory, tens of thousands of elephants are still killed every year. There are just over 400,000 elephants left in the wild. These cameras may just help in the fight to save them.

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Filed Under: news Tagged With: Artificial Intelligence, Trail camera, Wildlife Camera

About Alex Baker

Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

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Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

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