Giraffes

Spatial models for giraffes

In Namibia, giraffes are monitored with high definition camera equipment on manned aircraft and also, more recently, these images are collected by drones. We are working on using automated methods to classify locations where animals were seen (against a variety of backgrounds) and further classify each animal into species (including Rhino, Giraffe, Zebra and Oryx). From here we will be extending the scope of the complex Region Spatial Smoother (CReSS) with automated model selection via Spatially Adaptive Local Smoothing Algorithm (SALSA) to work with very large areas (e.g. one million hectares). Check out our page on splines for more details.

---

Check out my spot pattern!

Did you know that you can identify individual giraffes based on their spot pattern? Each giraffe has its own unique pattern - just like every person has their own unique finger print that they can be identified by. There are a few other animals in the mural that we can identify to the individual by using their markings. These are the humpback whale (pattern on the underside of the fluke), Blainville's beaked whale (markings on their back and dorsal fin), loggerhead turtle (pattern on their back), grey seal (pattern of spots) and jaguar (pattern of dark spots).