Clever AI is being used to assist in wildlife conservation efforts, with rhino ‘Conservation Collars’ helping safeguard these endangered animals in KwaZulu-Natal!
KwaZulu-Natal (19 October 2023) — In the continuous battle that is rhino conservation, Artificial Intelligence is helping keep a part of the endangered rhino population in KwaZulu-Natal safe, thanks to special ‘conservation collars’.
The conservation collar initiative was rolled out in winter this year for game reserve Thanda Safari. After teaming up with rhino collar tech company Rouxcel Technology, the dream of safeguarding their rhinos with more advanced help soon became possible thanks to the tech.
Previously, the game reserve employed various methods including other foot collars and horn pods to monitor their black and white rhino populations. However, limitations with these approaches, such as the use of telemetry units requiring line-of-sight, with no direct data recording capabilities or GPS functionality, necessitated a more sophisticated solution.
The newly developed AI-enabled conservation collars on the other hand are said to continuously observe, analyse, and learn to identify behaviour patterns specific to each rhino, thanks to advanced algorithms.
When registering ‘abnormal’ activity related to a possible poaching attempt, fighting, mating, giving birth or illness, the collar triggers an instant alert on ranger’s phones, pinpointing the incident’s precise location via GPS. This allows for rapid responses, enabling effective safeguarding of these majestic creatures.
Commenting on the technology, Mariana Venter, a Wildlife Operations Co-Ordinator expressed her enthusiasm:
“For security reasons, this system is crucial in helping us catch poachers in the act. Additionally, it generates valuable data for tracking rhino movements, monitoring their health and all-round wellbeing, thereby enabling us to learn more about their habitats and differing home ranges. This is particularly relevant to the elusive Black Rhinos. Favouring thick bush, they are difficult to monitor, and as a result we can experience long periods with infrequent sightings”.
As rhino poaching tragically persists in many parts of South Africa, any and all efforts whether they’re tech-driven or boots on the ground go a very long way in protecting the mighty rhino (and its various species) that deserves to be a part of the future.
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