Eight years ago, Fritz and Berend set out to make Kuzikus the best-documented wildlife reserve in Africa. The entire reserve was to be digitally quantified in high resolution using drones. At that time, the drones flew for barely half an hour and the performance of the computers left a lot to be desired.
Im Juni diesen Jahres gelang ein grosser Durchbruch! Unterstützt von Wilderness International, AMES FOUNDATION, Drones for Earth, Audi Umweltstiftung, Wild Intelligence Lab und dem deutschen Drohnen Hersteller Quantum Systems sowie der EPFL Lausanne fand die Mission „Make It Count! 2022“ auf Kuzikus statt.
This year there was a big breakthrough. With the support of Wilderness International, AMES FOUNDATION, Drones for Earth, Audi Umweltstiftung (Audi Environmental Foundation), Wild Intelligence Lab and the German drone manufacturer Quantum Systems as well as the EPFL Lausanne the mission "Make It Count! 2022" was organized on Kuzikus in June.
Within two days, the entire wildlife reserve was digitized using the latest technology. There was a review article in Nature Communications, another publication in PeerJ and the first prototypes of state-of-the-art technology for quantifying ecosystems, e.g. wildlife censuses, were created.
We are now at the forefront, also thanks to your support! Our aim is declared: To protect the wilderness in the middle of the Kalahari and support research!
Publiications:
- Hua A, Martin K, Shen Y, Chen N, Mou C, Sterk M, Reinhard B, Reinhard FF, Lee S, Alibhai S, Jewell ZC. 2022. Protecting endangered megafauna through AI analysis of drone images in a low-connectivity setting: a case study from Namibia. PeerJ 10:e13779 DOI 10.7717/peerj.13779
- Perspectives in Machine Learning for Wildlife Conservation. Devis Tuia, Benjamin Kellenberger, Sara Beery, Blair R. Costelloe, Silvia Zuffi, Benjamin Risse, Alexander Mathis, Mackenzie W. Mathis, Frank van Langevelde, Tilo Burghardt, Roland Kays, Holger Klinck, Martin Wikelski, Iain D. Couzin, Grant van Horn, Margaret C. Crofoot, Charles V. Stewart, Tanya Berger-Wolf. Nature Communications 2022