Hey there! I’m excited to share some cool stuff about how technology is helping us learn more about wild animals. Imagine trying to keep track of all the animals in a huge area like the African savannah. It sounds like a lot of work, right? Well, thanks to new technology, scientists have some awesome tools to make this easier.
Scientists have started using things like undersea microphones to listen to whales and satellites to watch elephants from space. These tools can gather tons of information super fast. One amazing project is called Snapshot Serengeti. It uses over 200 automatic cameras spread across the savannah to take millions of photos of animals. These cameras capture everything from lions hunting to zebras grazing, both day and night.
With so many photos, scientists have a big challenge: how do they make sense of all this information? They can’t just put the pictures into a spreadsheet and call it a day. They need to know what’s happening in each photo, like which animals are there and what they’re doing. This process used to take a lot of time—over 30,000 hours of work, which is like working 8 hours a day for 14 years!
This is where artificial intelligence, or AI, comes in. Scientists created a computer program that can learn to recognize different animal species and their behaviors. The AI uses trial and error to get better at identifying animals, and it turns out it’s almost as good as humans! What used to take years of human effort can now be done by AI in just one day.
AI isn’t just helping in the savannah. There’s a program that scans YouTube videos every night, looking for whale sharks. It can identify each shark by its unique pattern of spots and record where and when it was seen. This means researchers can gather information even while they’re sleeping!
AI is changing the way we study animals. It saves time and resources, allowing scientists to focus on making new discoveries and understanding how animals interact with their environment. While AI is super helpful, human insight is still crucial for making sense of all this data.
This exciting work is supported by places like the University of Minnesota, where people are working on big challenges like ensuring clean water and healthy ecosystems. Dr. Craig Packer, who leads the university’s lion center, helped start the Snapshot Serengeti Project. This project helps us learn how animals interact with each other and their surroundings, which is important for conserving species and managing ecosystems worldwide.
Thanks for reading, and a big shoutout to the University of Minnesota for their support!
Imagine you’re a scientist using AI to identify animals. Create a card game where each card has a picture of an animal and its unique features. Challenge your classmates to identify the animals based on these features, just like AI does!
Start your own wildlife observation journal. Spend some time in a local park or your backyard, and note down the animals you see. Try to identify them and record their behaviors, similar to how scientists use AI to study animal activities.
Use a simple coding platform like Scratch to create a basic program that can “classify” animals based on user input. This will give you a taste of how AI algorithms work to identify animals in the wild.
Take a virtual field trip to learn more about AI in wildlife conservation. Watch videos or explore online resources about projects like Snapshot Serengeti to see how AI helps scientists track and study animals.
Participate in a classroom debate about the role of AI in wildlife conservation. Discuss the benefits and challenges of using AI in research and conservation efforts, and consider how it complements human expertise.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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Hi, this is Kate from MinuteEarth. I know from personal experience that gathering information about wild animals can take a lot of time, energy, and resources. However, technology has recently provided wildlife biologists with new methods to study animals, such as using undersea microphones to monitor humpback whales and satellites to study elephants. These methods can generate vast amounts of information quickly.
Take the Snapshot Serengeti project, for example, where over 200 automatic cameras across the savannah have collected millions of photos of animals—predators and prey, day and night, near and far. This abundance of data is impressive! However, wildlife biologists face challenges in processing all this information. When the Snapshot Serengeti scientists want to use these images, they can’t simply input them into a spreadsheet; they need to understand the interactions depicted in each photo. In other words, they need data.
Transforming all those photos into usable data has already required more than 30,000 hours of work—equivalent to working 8 hours a day for 14 years. If only there were an automatic system that could assist with this task; one that could learn to identify various species and their behaviors. Enter artificial intelligence.
The scientists developed a computer program that uses trial and error to learn how to identify dozens of species, count animals, and categorize behaviors. The AI proved to be nearly as accurate as humans, and the photos that took 14 years of human effort to classify were processed by the program in just one day. Moreover, the more opportunities these algorithms have to practice, the better they become, turning the overwhelming amount of information into a valuable resource for AI.
Another source of vast information is the internet. One AI-based program spends each night analyzing the 80 years of YouTube videos uploaded that day, searching for videos of whale sharks, like those seen on vacations. The bot identifies each individual based on its unique pattern of spots and records information about the sighting—all while researchers rest.
This represents a significant shift in how we study animals in the wild, and AI may help researchers save time and resources, allowing them to make new connections and draw conclusions about their subjects—an area where artificial intelligence still cannot surpass human insight.
This video was sponsored by the University of Minnesota, where students, faculty, and staff across various fields are working to address the grand challenges facing society. One of these challenges is ensuring clean water and sustainable ecosystems, which involves understanding ecosystems well enough to help them thrive in the future. Dr. Craig Packer, the director of the university’s lion center, helped establish the Snapshot Serengeti Project to gather information about how animals interact with each other and their environment, aiding in the conservation of species and management of ecosystems worldwide.
Thanks, University of Minnesota!
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Let me know if you need any further modifications!
AI – A branch of computer science that focuses on creating machines or programs that can perform tasks that usually require human intelligence. – Scientists use AI to analyze large sets of biological data to understand complex ecosystems.
Animals – Living organisms that feed on organic matter, typically having specialized sense organs and nervous systems and able to respond rapidly to stimuli. – Researchers study the behaviors of animals in the wild to learn more about their natural habitats.
Data – Information collected for analysis or used to reason and make decisions, often in the form of numbers or facts. – Biologists gather data from experiments to understand how different species interact with their environment.
Species – A group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding. – The discovery of a new species of frog in the rainforest excited the scientific community.
Technology – The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry. – Advances in technology have allowed scientists to use drones for tracking animal movements in remote areas.
Research – The systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources to establish facts and reach new conclusions. – Ongoing research in artificial intelligence is helping to develop smarter robots that can assist in conservation efforts.
Conservation – The protection and preservation of natural resources and environments. – Conservation efforts are crucial for protecting endangered species from extinction.
Environment – The surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates. – Changes in the environment can have significant impacts on the survival of various species.
Tracking – The process of following and monitoring the movements or progress of something or someone. – Scientists use GPS collars for tracking the migration patterns of elephants across Africa.
Behaviors – The actions or reactions of an organism, usually in response to its environment. – Studying the behaviors of dolphins can provide insights into their social structures and communication methods.
