Photo by Andy Holmes on Unsplash
Ashleigh Papp, over at Scientific American, reports How AI Facial Recognition Is Helping Conserve Pumas:
INTRO: This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I’m Ashleigh Papp.
Papp: Mountain lions are now posing for their close ups. Researchers based in the greater Yellowstone National Park area have figured out a new way to identify these cats by using facial recognition. And this method is proving to be a better way to monitor these highly elusive creatures.
Alexander: Mountain lions are just really, really hard to directly observe. They’re just so cryptic and secretive. And so we’ve had to find these non-invasive methods, they’re often called to, to get information about a mountain lion population.
Papp: That’s Peter Alexander, a research biologist based in Kelly, Wyoming, who led the research project
….
Alexander: Tigers that’s kind of the classic example of using cameras for individual identity. Because those stripes, they’re like a fingerprint. (10:17) And so a cougar, they do not have any of those really conspicuous stripes on their sides. And so yeah, just your typical flank view shot can be pretty nondescript.
Papp: That’s because nearly all pumas around the world, with exceptions of distinguishing things like scars, have light, sandy colored fur down their sides. The scientific name for a mountain lion, Puma concolor, literally translates to “one color.” This lack of unique coloration on the sides of their bodies means that researchers like Alexander can’t usually tell if one puma crosses a camera trap five times, or if five individual animals pass by.
However, it’s a different story when it comes to their facial markings — they’re kind of a show stopper.
Alexander: You get a close up image of a face, they’re stunning. Just those huge eyes, and there’s a lot of detail in whisker patterns and all sorts of stuff. They really are beautiful.