Seal conservation efforts aided by new facial recognition technology

A staff at Colgate College created facial recognition software program to assist within the conservation of seals.
AP

A staff of New York scientists could have sealed the deal on the conservation of certainly one of Maine’s most acknowledged wild animals.

The group of researchers out of Colgate College processed photos of dozens of harbor seals in Casco Bay, on the state’s southern coast, then gathered them in a database.

They used the pictures to create SealNet, an automatic facial recognition expertise that has confirmed near 100% correct in figuring out the mammals.

The software program is being touted as “an important device for ecological and behavioral research of marine mammals within the growing discipline of conservation expertise,” in accordance with a examine which was revealed on Wiley On-line Library.

“Understanding their dispersal, understanding their patterns actually helps inform any conservation efforts for the coast,” mentioned staff member Krista Ingram, who can also be a biology trainer on the Colgate College. “For cellular marine mammals that transfer round quite a bit and are onerous to photograph within the water, we'd like to have the ability to determine people.”

Harbor seals had been as soon as in peril of native extinction.

Alamy Inventory Photograph

The analysis staff processed greater than 1,700 photographs of over 400 seals and revealed its findings in April in a scientific journal.

Harbor seals had been as soon as in peril of native extinction as they had been commercially hunted. Nevertheless, the Marine Mammal Safety Act, which was enacted in 1972, prohibited the capturing of marine mammals within the U.S., saving them from endangerment.

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