IT provides a little animal magic

There can't be many IT initiatives that have been inspired by Kalahari bushmen. Nor would business users of statistical analysis software immediately think that the northern hairy-nosed wombat might benefit from such complex technology.

But a pioneering project to help the survival of endangered rhinos in southern Africa demonstrates that the influence and benefits of IT are spreading to the most unlikely locations.

Wildlife biologists Zoe Jewell and her husband Sky Alibhai are behind the idea. Next month they are off to India to test out technology originally developed for their Rhinowatch project on a new initiative to help save wild tigers.

Rhinowatch was first established in 1991 to help monitor black rhino populations in Zimbabwe at a time when poaching was seriously threatening the species.

Over the next five years, Jewell and Alibhai began to realise that some of the existing methods of monitoring had a worrying downside.

Rhinos had to be immobilised to fit radio collars for tracking, and the couple discovered that this process was inhibiting the fertility of female rhinos. The attempts to protect the species were actually slowing reproduction rates.

A new method was needed that was sustainable but that did not invade the rhinos' lives. The biologists had watched local tribesmen identify individual rhinos by their unique footprints.

Jewell explained that it was a skill based on generations of experience that she could never hope to learn.

"But if it was possible to translate that technique using modern technology, we would have a cost-effective and non-invasive way to find out how many rhinos there are and their location. That's where we began," she said.

In 1996, they began work with supplier SAS, using its specialised statistical software to analyse data they collected by measuring rhino footprints. This information was then used to follow the movement of each animal.

"It sounds easy but it took a very long time," said Jewell. "We started by tracing footprints on to paper and measuring them with a ruler.

"But as technology such as digital cameras and scanners evolved, so did our methods. Now the whole thing is running smoothly with all the technology, and we're comparable with the bushmen."

The SAS software has proved to be a vital conservation tool: the method delivers accuracy rates of 90 per cent in identifying individual animals.

And Jewell explained that the package has had further benefits. "Many common monitoring techniques are invasive to the animals and quite often not reliable," she said.

"They can also be extremely expensive and therefore not cost-effective, especially for developing countries."

Projects no longer need teams of scientific researchers to bring in radio receivers and helicopters to follow the herds.

Now local patrols can take digital photos, which Rhinowatch uses to build a picture of the animals' movements, meaning that anti-poaching teams can be deployed more accurately.

"We can now use the indigenous skills of people who were brought up around these animals, which is key to sustainability in the long term," said Jewell.

After the technique was published for the first time in 2001, Jewell and Alibhai were contacted by conservationists working to protect tigers in India.

Together with SAS, which by now was also providing extra support and funding for the project, they adapted the software for a trial at an animal sanctuary in North Carolina. US conservationists took photos of tiger paw prints and emailed them to Jewell.

The pictures are optimised using Adobe Photoshop software, then processed through SAS software to obtain the raw data and compare the characteristics of every print to identify each animal. Graphical geographic information systems help to map their movements.

The test with captive tigers was a success, and the next step, in March, is to find out whether the terrain in India will be suitable for photographing the detail in paw prints so that the software could be considered for use with wild tigers. Field trips are also planned to Bangladesh and Siberia.

If sufficient funding can be found, it will be good news for tigers, and potentially for other animals too.

"Conservationists are very interested in whether the software could be used for other species," said Jewell. "There is a team in Australia working on the northern hairy-nosed wombat, which is extremely endangered. But it is mainly for large animals that are difficult or dangerous to track."

Just as in business, the increasing power and capability of IT has meant huge boosts in productivity. IT has revolutionised the conservation process for wildlife biologists.

"Using digital cameras has enormously increased the number of footprint photographs we can take and process, enabling us to deliver rapid feedback on rhino movements to those field managers responsible for their protection," said Jewell. "What we do would be impossible without technology."