African conservationists hope artificial intelligence (AI) cameras can help protect endangered species such as forest elephants and grassland elephants.
Discussing the potential new technology, Dr Bruno Oberler, Director-General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), said: "We must urgently stop poaching and ensure adequate habitat for forest and grassland elephants."
The cameras, developed by Dutch tech startup Hack The Planet and scientists at the University of Stirling in the United Kingdom, will be able to detect different animal species and humans in real time and provide real-time alerts to local villages and rangers, Sterling wrote in a press release.
Piloted with satellites and a range of networks including Wi-Fi, long-haul radio and cellular coverage, the technology immediately flagged images and issued distress warnings.
Cameras can also help prevent elephants from entering villages in search of food, preventing potential conflicts.
"Real-time data from smart cameras and other sensors could revolutionize the way we monitor and protect the world's most threatened ecosystems," Dr. Robin Whitestock, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Stirling, said of the study. "The progress made in this study shows that real-time data can be used to make better decisions when time is of the essence."
The pilot project involved five camera systems and took more than 800 photos over a 72-day period, of which only 217 were elephants. The researchers determined that the AI system achieved 82 percent accuracy in identifying elephants, with an average alert time of 7 minutes.
The system can also help catch poachers and keep endangered animals safe. Researchers tested the system in Gabon, which is home to 60 to 70 percent of Africa's forest elephants, or about 95,000, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).
WCS cites a 2019 study that identified protecting elephants as a means of improving the planet's resilience to climate change, as researchers determined that elephant foraging removes smaller trees and promotes the growth of larger trees that can store more carbon.
But elephants have been placed on the IUCN's "red list" of endangered species, making them "critically endangered" and may have become extinct in some areas previously identified as natural habitats.
Wildlife Aid says the number of ivory continues to decline due to deforestation and ivory poaching, with ivory selling for about $3,300 a pound and an industry value of about $23 billion a year.