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Smart cameras help wild animals - 17th March 2023

In Africa's national parks, keeping the animals safe is a big problem. But Dutch company 'Hack the Planet' may have the solution. They have a smart camera system.

Engineer, Thijs Suijten, says the smart cameras 'talk' to a small computer and artificial intelligence.

Thijs Suijten: "And this minicomputer downloads the images from the camera and then uses artificial intelligence to automatically classify whether there's an animal, an elephant or human on the photo. And then we use the satellite modem to send that information through space directly to the phones of rangers within minutes."

Usually, park rangers have to go to the camera station to download important information. They do this when they change the batteries, every six months. The time delay means they never catch the criminals.

Eight of the smart cameras were used in Gabon in 2021. Local farmers were having problems with elephants.

Thijs Suijten: "It's where elephants more and more break into plantations of local farmers and destroying plantations and taking away the livelihood of local people. And there we deployed this system, eight of these cameras, to create an early warning system so that rangers and locals know elephants are approaching a village."

When the system notices an elephant, it produces a loud noise. That makes the animals run away, before they damage the farmers' land.

Using smart cameras isn't the only answer. Hack the Planet has also created a mobile phone sensor which can recognise SIM cards. It knows when criminals are in the area because of their mobile phones. These sensors were tested in other countries. Now they're working in real-life situations.