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AI to track hedgehog populations in pioneering UK project (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 year ago by GreyShuck@feddit.uk to c/nature@feddit.uk

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Artificial intelligence will be used for the first time to track hedgehog populations as part of a pioneering project aimed at understanding how many of them are left in the UK and why they have suffered a decline.

Images of the prickly mammals snuffling around urban parks, private gardens, woodlands and farmland will be captured by cameras and filtered by AI trained to differentiate between wildlife and humans.

The images will then be sent to human “spotters” who will pick out those featuring hedgehogs and send them to analysts, who will record the numbers and locations.

Using this method, the National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme (NHMP) hopes to be able to produce estimates of hedgehog populations in different habitats across the country, show how these are changing year on year, and – in time – give a national estimate of the UK’s hedgehog population.

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[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 2 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The images will then be sent to human “spotters” who will pick out those featuring hedgehogs and send them to analysts, who will record the numbers and locations.

The British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) said this would produce crucial insights into the factors causing hedgehog populations to plummet, and enable conservationists to implement practical conservation measures to try to reverse the decline.

Dr Henrietta Pringle, the NHMP coordinator at PTES, said: “For the first time in the history of hedgehog conservation we’re using AI to open up new opportunities, which is extremely exciting.

Fay Vass, the chief executive of the BHPS, said: “Everyone loves hedgehogs, but we recognise that not everyone is in a position to help them in the wild.

The original article contains 459 words, the summary contains 197 words. Saved 57%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!