Chinese team tracks beavers with AI, making Xinjiang wildlife work easier

Name: ‘He’s always there’: Chinese AI chatbot eases heartbreak, offers companionship for lonely millions
Uploaded: 2022-07-22T14:08:37.000Z
Duration: 2 min 36 s
Description: ‘He’s always there’: Chinese AI chatbot eases heartbreak, offers companionship for lonely millions

Image recognition technology helps conservationists sort through tens of thousands of photos, making it easier to gather data on protected species

Next stage of project to focus on building monitoring platforms for other animals, says tech company director

Reading Time:2 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

The Mengxin beaver has become a social media star, thanks to conservationists in far western China. Photo: Chu Wenwen

Zhang Tong

Published: 10:08pm, 22 Jul 2022Updated: 10:59pm, 22 Jul 2022

Wildlife conservationists in China are using artificial intelligence to track beavers in the far western Xinjiang region, making it easier for them to gather data on the animals’ habitat and population.

The Altai Natural Conservation Association uses 100 infrared cameras to track Mengxin beavers, a national first-class protected animal that lives in the Altai region of northern Xinjiang.

Each motion-activated camera captures between 3,000 and 5,000 photos per month – many triggered by wind or insects. Previously, association members had to sort through more than 30,000 pictures every month to uncover useful information about the beavers.

The conservationists teamed up with tech companies to create a new AI model to take over the tough job of filtering the photos.

“All we need to do is upload the photo into the system, and the AI will find the useful pictures for us,” said Wang Dapeng, a member of the association, on Thursday.

“The algorithm provides fast screening of photos and automatic segmentation of video clips,” said Cao Ji, director of Beijing Baller-Tech, which developed an algorithm to identify useful photos.

“In the future, we will develop intelligent cameras that can independently track the movement of the beavers,” he said.

02:36

‘He’s always there’: Chinese AI chatbot eases heartbreak, offers companionship for lonely millions

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x