Our researchers use AI to help protect endangered Cape (African) penguins. First, it will learn to recognize those living in the Wrocław Zoo. How? Each individual has a unique pattern of spots on its chest and belly. AI will “connect the dots" to learn to distinguish them. Once it can do that, it will try to help estimate the population and behaviour of wild penguins in nature. AI will help count the number of animals in the colony.

The idea to apply AI to penguins counting was conceived by Dr. Paweł Zyblewski and Weronika Borek-Marciniec, M.Sc. from the Department of Systems and Computer Networks. In their opinion, artificial intelligence can be taught to recognize specific birds. Since Cape penguins are critically endangered and may disappear from the wild in 10 years, any technology that helps estimate their numbers is very important.

Spot by spot – each penguin counts

Dr. Paweł Zyblewski and Weronika Borek-Marciniec, M.Sc. are working on an extraordinary tool. It is based on artificial intelligence, which... learns to recognize Cape penguins. This is possible because each of these birds has a unique pattern of spots on its chest and belly.

– Our AI model currently relies on images of 9 out of 100 penguins from the Wrocław Zoo. These are used in the learning process. In the future, we want to monitor the entire Wrocław colony, and the final stage of the project will be to monitor the population in the wild – says Weronika Borek-Marciniec, M.Sc. from the Department of Systems and Computer Networks.

 
The model does not use more electricity than a standard computer game. This is a completely different scale of AI usage compared to, for example, Chat GPT. Research conducted by scientists from our department does not negatively impact the environment.

The database from the Wrocław Zoo will be used by artificial intelligence to recognize certain patterns. At the beginning, you need to teach the tool how to work.

The researchers will apply for a grant for further research. They would like their final stage to be carried out in Africa, in the colonies of Cape penguins. They plan to install cameras equipped with their AI software, which will help "count" how many unique spot patterns it recognizes, and thus, how many penguins live in the colony.

– Any tool that helps estimate the population of this critically endangered species and allows better monitoring of the Cape penguin population is very valuable. We are happy to assist scientists from Wrocław University of Science and Technology by providing them with data on our group of penguins, and we hope that in the future this data will translate into the ability to recognize these birds in the wild – says Tomasz Jóźwik, DVM, CEO of Wrocław Zoo.

AI in the service of a critically endangered species

Cape penguins inhabit South Africa and Namibia. They are critically endangered, and according to some estimates, they might be gone by 2035...

Currently, their population is being monitored with the use of somewhat outdated methods. Artificial intelligence will enable more advanced research. It will take a record of whether it has seen the individual animal before (possibly also where and in what company), it may also be able to recognize the colony from which the bird comes – it all depends on what data it will operate on. Theoretically, the tool developed by scientists from our Faculty can not only recognize spots on the breast but also rings (if the animal happens to have one). A lot depends on the funding and on the direction that the tool will develop in.

For years, the Wrocław Zoo and the Wrocław Zoo Foundation – DODO have been supporting SANCCOB – an organization based in South Africa. It has already saved over 100,000 seabirds, including African penguins.

– We informed SANCCOB about the project carried out by scientists from Wrocław. Researchers from South Africa are eagerly awaiting the first results of our project. They are eager to implement any solution that helps in more accurately estimating the population of Cape penguins – says Paweł Borecki, a research and scientific collaboration specialist at Wrocław Zoo and a PhD student at the University of Life Sciences.

Paweł Borecki visited SANCCOB twice and assisted in the rehabilitation of penguins and their return to nature in the Republic of South Africa. Currently, he is working on creating a penguin biobank. “Their seed will be cryopreserved to enable the future restoration of a genetically diverse population.

We hope that resorting to the gene pool of penguins from zoological gardens will never be necessary to save this critically endangered species. In the case of the African penguin, no action is ever too much. The researchers estimate that Cape penguins don't have much time. We need to act now!” emphasizes the Wrocław Zoo in a statement.

Source: Wrocław Zoo.