Could Someone Give Advice to me on How to Apply AI into Wildlife Tracking and Conservation?

Hello everyone :wave:

I am now working on a project to monitor and save endangered animals in a national park. Our team has been looking into new tools and approaches that can help our work; and we are interested in using AI powered solutions to boost our wildlife monitoring and data processing skills.

Here are some details regarding our project
We have set up multiple video captures and audio devices throughout the park various habitats. The amount of data collected like pictures,. videos; and audio recordings is important and growing every day. We must process and evaluate this data effectively in order to detect species; habits; and potential dangers.
Recently; a substantial amount of time has been spent manually examining data, which cannot be sustained in the long term. One of our primary objectives is to identify and react to potential risks like poaching and habitat degradation in real time. We are looking into AI systems that can provide early notifications and useful information.

  • Which AI technologies and systems have you found to be most successful for tracking wildlife and conservation? Are there any free software options you would recommend for a project of this size?

  • How do you handle the huge quantities of data collected by camera traps and sensors? Which steps do you take to protect accuracy of information and connectivity?

  • Have you had any experience using specialised AI models and techniques to accurately recognise species from photos or audio recordings? What are the most important elements to think about when training these models?

  • What artificial intelligence techniques have proven to be useful in real-time threat identification in conservation areas? How do you connect these systems into your current monitoring and reaction rules?

  • Are there any current groups with which we may work to share data and resources? How do you use artificial intelligence to communicate with local individuals and interested groups in support of conservation efforts?

Also, I have gone through some posts related to this: https://forum.smartconservationtools.org/t/survey-for-the-smart-community-use-of-smart-to-servicenow-record-morbidity-mortality-events/1041 But I did not get any solution. I am excited to learn about your experiences., suggestions; and efficient methods. Your advice will be important as we continue with our work. :saluting_face: :heartpulse:

Thank you in advance for your help. :pray:

Hi Helen

To classify photos from camera traps I recommend the EcoAssist software (EcoAssist - Simplifying camera trap image analysis with AI) it separates you between ghosts, animals, people and vehicles, but you can also train your own models. To label them and order Timelapse results (Timelapse: An Image Analyser for Camera Traps — Timelapse). These two programs have supported us a lot to optimize the analysis in parks in Chile. In the case of audios we are using BirdNET-Analyzer and its application for RavenPro. Greetings!

Hi Helen,
Specifically for the question on real-time monitoring, I manage wpsWatch, an application from Wildlife Protection Solutions that focuses on threat identification and alerting in real-time. You can contact me at matt@wpswatch if you’d like to discuss further.

I’ll also suggest looking at Zamba for using AI to analyze videos, but EcoAssist/Timelapse is a great option for reviewing on your desktop. - https://www.zambacloud.com/

More broadly, here are a few places to look into for more information on AI applications in conservation:

Best,
Matt

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