Untagged

      New technology is allowing researchers to track and study animals without having to tag them with identity and radio tags. Normally biologists use plastic cattle tags that are numbered, but these often fall off and are stressful to the animals because they have to be captured and sedated in order to be tagged. Scientists have now learned that animals can be tracked by their identifying features, for example spots and stripes. It is better to use these “fingerprints” to their advantage since they do not change over an animal’s lifetime.  Tags are not only stressful, but they often fall off over time, resulting in the loss of valuable information.

     The Dutch Center for Mathematics and Computing  in Amsterdam has developed an algorithm that can identify leatherback sea turtles from their pink spot, a patch on top of their heads unique to each turtle, and convert it into a biomarker.  A conservation network called Wildecast tested this technology on digital photos of sea turtles and now plans to add this system to its Obis-Seamap database, where biologists can upload photos of sea turtles and where they have been spotted. From the database they can find out if the turtle has already been electronically IDed and get details about its age, where it has been seen before, and where it’s from.  Basically anyone who comes across a sea turtle and has a camera could take a picture and upload it to the database if they wanted to. Once the photos are uploaded and identified researchers can then build a profile for each specimen and track its activities and locations. Other researchers are hoping to continue this process on penguins by the spots on their chests and on sharks by the jagged line patterns on their dorsal fin.  Eventually this technology will be used to track other animals as well.

      Ultimately this is a much easier, safer and more organized way to keep track of animals and gain more consistent research on them.  Now anyone from researchers to photographers to hikers could possibly contribute to specific studies or just expand the database that easily and quickly.