AI can spot wounded wild animals and poachers in camera trap footage

An AI designed to detect bed sores in digital images has been used to identify wounded animals in camera trap footage, and can also detect poachers

By Matthew Sparkes

AI is being used to identify animals, plot their movements and spot wounds in a bid to help conservationists by cutting down the time taken to sift through video footage from camera traps.

Paul Fergus at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK and his colleagues first began developing their AI model three years ago and have successfully identified 44 different species in motion-activated camera footage, as well as in overhead images from drones and audio. They are currently …