Featured Project: UAVs and AI to protect wildlife
Drones have many potential uses in wildlife conservation. Generally they are used to identify animals from the air, often to count them. WildTrack is pioneering the use of drones to collect data about endangered species without disturbing them, by imaging the cryptic ground evidence they leave behind - for example their footprints. Using AI and morphometrics, information about their numbers and distribution can be obtained.
OUR MISSION
WildTrack’s Mission is to protect endangered species using a unique combination of advanced data analytics, artificial intelligence, and traditional ecological knowledge.
WildTrack has developed an innovative new model to tackle the global decline in species – using footprints.
Media
WildTrack has developed a footprint identification technique (FIT) that enables wildlife conservationists to identify endangered species from their unique footprints. This allows them to monitor the animals closely without disturbing them.
This short documentary video shows WildTrack’s Drs Sky Alibhai and Zoe Jewell tracking cheetah with the San people on the Central Namibian Plateau.
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Blog
UC Berkeley and WildTrack, helping saving Hermes the rhino!
September 16th, 2021
Conservationists now have a new prototype AI tool to help prevent rhinoceros poaching. This Summer, over a time span of just 6 weeks and 3 different time zones, a diverse team of graduate students from UC Berkeley School of Information in collaboration with WildTrack created an end-to-end application that uses…
WildTrack in Numbers 2021
WildTrack works to deliver non-invasive monitoring for endangered species. Our footprint identification technique (FIT) is customized for each species in our many different species project partners around the world
Field projects, citizen scientists and outdoor enthusiasts send us footprints, and together with our students in universities around the world we develop species algorithms and help field projects apply the technique.
Thanks to generous support from JMP (in which FIT sits) we are also able to help field scientists use JMP data visualization software without additional cost.