New tracking technology will help fight rhino poaching in Namibia
Interactive software safe and cost-effective way to keep watchful eye on endangered black rhinos

Date:
September 9, 2020
Source:
Duke University
Summary:
Interactive software that 'reads' and analyzes footprints left by
black rhinoceroses can be used to monitor the movements of the
animals in the wild, giving conservationists a new way to keep
watch on the endangered species and help keep it safe from poachers,
according to a new study.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Interactive software that "reads" and analyzes footprints left by
black rhinoceroses can be used to monitor the movements of the animals
in the wild, giving conservationists a new way to keep watch on the
endangered species and help keep it safe from poachers, according to a
Duke University-led study.


==========================================================================
The software, called the Footprint Identification Technique (FIT), runs
on JMP software from SAS and uses advanced algorithms to analyze more
than 100 measurements of a rhino's footprint.

Because each rhino's footprint is as distinctive as a human fingerprint,
the analyzed images can be archived electronically in a global database
of previously collected footprint images for matching.

"If you find a match, you can identify the individual animal who left
the mark and, by plotting the locations of all the other places that mark
has been seen, track its movements without disturbing it or coming into
close enough contact with it for there to be a risk of animal-to-human
viral transmissions," said Zoe Jewell, adjunct associate professor
at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment and principal
research associate at the JMP Division of SAS, who co-led the study and
is co-creator of FIT.

"It's a cost-effective approach that not only protects the health of the
rhino and the human, but also brings a centuries-old tracking skill into
the 21st Century," she said.

Jewell and her colleagues are now working with Namibia's Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism to train wildlife conservationists,
land managers, local guides and anti-poaching agents how to use FIT.



==========================================================================
The scientists published their peer-reviewed study describing the
technology's effectiveness for monitoring the endangered rhinos on
Aug. 14 in the open- access journal PeerJ.

Namibia is home to an estimated 2,000 black rhinos, or about 90% of
the species' total population worldwide. Though legally owned by the government, the animals are dispersed geographically on private lands
across the country.

Stepped up government policing in recent years has significantly slowed
the rate of loss due to poaching, but between 30 and 50 of the animals
are still slain each year for their horns, which can sell for more than
$60,000 a kilogram on the Asian black market, where they are used in traditional medicine or displayed as a symbol of wealth and success.

"You essentially have these animals with horns worth $100,000 or more
that disappear from sight into the Namibian backcountry, making them an
almost irresistible target for poachers. Authorities often don't know
a rhino that's gone missing has been poached until they find its bones
or carcass," said Jewell.

FIT allows the animals to be monitored three different ways, allowing scientists, managers, guides or anti-poaching patrols to use it as best
meets their individual needs and constraints, she said.

In the simplest option, the heel pattern on a digital image of the
footprint is compared to images already in the FIT database to search for
a match. This use is well-suited to situations where a random footprint
is found in the wild.

The FIT software can also do a survey of footprints throughout the
protected area and take measurements from each print to estimate
the number of rhinos in that area. This can be useful information for calculating resource needs -- the number of patrol vehicles, for instance
-- to monitor the animals effectively.

In the most advanced option, each individual rhino can be tracked and
matched to its unique footprint using both FIT and heel-patterns. This
creates an interactive library that anti-poaching patrols can use to
search for animals at the highest risk, including those known to frequent
areas under threat from poachers or those whose footprints haven't been
showing up in recent years.

"FIT is a distillation of the traditional ecological skills of the expert trackers who have lived and worked with in Africa for many years," said
Sky Alibhai, also an adjunct associate professor at Duke's Nicholas School
and principal research associate at the JMP Division of SAS, who co-led
the study and co-developed the FIT technology with Jewell. "Using FIT
allows their skills to be used effectively in conservation. This can
benefit whole communities."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Duke_University. Note: Content may
be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Zoe C. Jewell, Sky Alibhai, Peter R. Law, Kenneth Uiseb, Stephen
Lee.

Monitoring rhinoceroses in Namibia's private custodianship
properties.

PeerJ, 2020; 8: e9670 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.9670 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200909124022.htm

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