AI of the Tiger: Conservation Biologist Jeremy Dertien on Real-Time Poaching Prevention

by Angie Lee

Fewer than 4,000 tigers remain worldwide, according to Tigers United, a university consortium that recently began using AI to help save the species.

Jeremy Dertien is a conservation biologist with Tigers United and a Ph.D. candidate in wildlife biology and conservation planning at Clemson University.

He spoke with NVIDIA AI Podcast host Noah Kravitz about a project deploying AI-equipped cameras to monitor poaching in central India, where more than 70 percent of the remaining tiger populations reside.

Key Points From This Episode:

  • Tigers are endangered due to a devastating combination of poaching, habitat loss and environmental pressures placed on their prey.
  • Tigers United has deployed AI-based cameras that scan scenes of wildlife imagery and identify clips containing species of interest in real time. This is useful when analyzing hundreds of thousands of hours of forest footage to study and prevent instances of poaching.

Tweetables:

“These camera systems … completely change the game when it comes to stopping poachers or conflict.” — Jeremy Dertien [5:33]

“Each tiger has a unique stripe pattern, and [AI can help] individually identify each one.” — Jeremy Dertien [23:08]

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