{"id":441,"date":"2021-10-08T17:19:54","date_gmt":"2021-10-08T15:19:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/africa-on-air.com\/tech-conservation-african-elephants\/"},"modified":"2022-04-06T16:59:55","modified_gmt":"2022-04-06T14:59:55","slug":"using-technology-images-to-save-african-elephants","status":"publish","type":[9],"link":"https:\/\/africa-on-air.com\/en\/environment\/2021\/10\/using-technology-images-to-save-african-elephants\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Selfies, Live Streams, and Satellite Images to Save African Elephants"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

With African elephants so ubiquitous in our collective consciousness, not to mention on our screens, it\u2019s hard to conceive that they\u2019re now officially endangered, having been placed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species<\/a> in March, 2021.

Over the last century, the African elephant population has plummeted<\/a>, from an estimated 10 million to 415,000. Habitat fragmentation, human encroachment, and retaliatory killings for crop destruction are major culprits. And despite bans, elephant poaching perseveres, fueled by an expanding Asian middle class for whom ivory is a status symbol and digital technology that facilitates secret, immediate communications and transactions. However, technology \u2013 applied in unexpected and innovative ways \u2013 is also becoming instrumental in saving elephants.

For University of Oxford conservation scientist Isla Duporge, accurate monitoring is key to successful elephant conservation. Duporge is part of a research team that\u2019s been using high-resolution satellite images<\/a> to count elephants from outer space, some 600km from the Earth\u2019s surface. Traditional aerial survey methods \u2013 in which scientists count elephants from aircraft \u2013 can be hampered by poor visibility, fatigue, and double counting. Such inaccuracies are avoided when a computer algorithm does the counting, having been \u201ctaught\u201d to identify grey blobs as elephants, even when camouflaged by various backgrounds and lighting situations.

\u201cSatellite images, drones, and GPS tracking are really good at providing accurate data,\u201d says Duporge. \u201cYou can track fluctuation in elephants\u2019 movements and behavior and focus on where to concentrate anti-poaching resources.\u201d

Other conservation hacks depend upon more earthbound technology. In South Africa, Balule Nature Reserve recently collaborated with Samsung and Africam to create Wildlife Watch<\/a>, an anti-poaching project where virtual rangers can watch live wildlife videos streamed by camera phones. Aside from a Big Brother<\/em>-style glimpse into animals\u2019 intimate lives, armchair conservationists can also report suspicious activities to rangers in the field.

Fighting poachers with movement-triggered camera \u201ctraps\u201d isn\u2019t new, but using highly sensitive audio sensors to \u201cbug\u201d wild environments is. The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Google Cloud have developed technology that analyzes recordings made by acoustic sensors. From distances of up to 1 km, these AudioMoths<\/a> can pick up sounds such as gunshots and quickly alert anti-poacher patrols. Cheaper than cameras, the sensors can record continuously for months at a time.

In response to escalating human-elephant conflicts, ZSL conservationists have also been curating elephant \u201cselfies\u201d. As part of a project christened HEAT<\/a> (Human-Elephant Alert Technologies), they\u2019ve compiled the world\u2019s largest database of some 30,000 thermal elephant images. After being \u201ctrained\u201d by the database, thermal cameras are placed in rural communities. When a wild elephant approaches, the camera detects the heat it radiates, alerting residents. Measures can quickly be taken to avoid property destruction, injury, and even loss of life.

Isla Duporge is enthusiastic about these new and constantly improving technologies \u2013 much of them military in origin \u2013 being applied to conservation. However, she also warns that tech is no substitute for human resources. \u201cSometimes there\u2019s too much hype that tech can solve everything. Having well-funded and well-trained rangers who know the landscape really well is crucial as is getting local communities involved and training them to apply the technologies.\u201d<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With African elephants so ubiquitous in our collective consciousness, not to mention on our screens, it\u2019s hard to conceive that they\u2019re now officially endangered, having been placed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in March, 2021. Over the last century, the African elephant population has plummeted, from an estimated 10 million to 415,000. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUsing technology Images to Save African Elephants<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Technology saves Elephants such as selfies, live streams, satellite images and GPS tracking to save endangered African elephants.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/africa-on-air.com\/en\/environment\/2021\/10\/using-technology-images-to-save-african-elephants\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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