Artificial intelligence to help sea turtle species

A group of scientists allied with nature guardians find a way to protect some species of sea turtles. Thus, three species are favored. The scientists and the guardians form an alliance to protect them and prevent their extinction.

sea turtle species

Australia uses artificial intelligence to protect three species of sea turtles

From a report provided by Microsoft, it is confirmed that they succeed in helping sea turtles. Finally, the sum of technology and knowledge about chelonioids are combined. As a result, they can find their nests before predators.

Scientists use aerial reports, artificial intelligence and the cloud to find the nests. This data is shared with the guardians. They also quickly reach them to save thousands of turtles.

This action is carried out in Australia, on the west coast of Cape York. The turtle species that benefit are the hawksbill turtle, the flatback turtle and the olive ridley turtle. Certainly, they are three of the seven species that are threatened by extinction.

Technology simplifies the task and shortens times

With technology they can shorten times and make the task easier. Locating nests with field work can take a month or more. Using drones or helicopters it only takes two hours to get results.

sea turtle nests

Until recently, 100% of the nests in this area were predated by pigs. Today, applying the new system, the loss does not exceed 30%. Until now, it took many hours of work to analyze thousands of images. But Microsoft is providing valuable help to reduce these times.

Csiro is a scientific organization in Australia. In combination with Microsoft they came up with a way to speed up the processes. They entered thousands of images into the cloud and devised algorithms to analyze them. By applying artificial intelligence they achieved amazing results. The test included the use of several tools. The main ones are a terrain classifier, a footprint detector and also several predatory objects.

Finally, they enter into the cloud, the images stored in the cameras’ memories for analysis. The results are stored and shared on an interactive dashboard that can be accessed by the keepers. Certainly, this detection system is 90% effective. Finally, all together, scientists and guardians decide what action to take in each case.

The system was stored on an open source platform. The aim is that scientists from all over the world can use it and experiment. In Mexico, they are developing a similar action but with the purpose of avoiding indiscriminate hunting.

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