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AI empowers Thanda Safari’s Rhino conservation efforts
A key partnership between Thanda Safari, a Big Five game reserve in KwaZulu Natal, and Rouxcel Technology has augmented efforts to safeguard the wellbeing of the reserve’s rhino population through a newly-developed AI-driven initiative.
A newly-developed AI-driven initiative aims at conserving the endangered rhino population of South Africa.
A key partnership between Thanda Safari, a Big Five game reserve in KwaZulu Natal, and Rouxcel Technology, a leading conservation company, has augmented efforts to safeguard and ensure the wellbeing of the reserve’s rhino population. Rouxcel Technology specialises in advanced rhino collar technology, and its revolutionary artificial intelligence (AI) driven technology and real-time tracking and monitoring capabilities has empowered Thanda Safari initiatives to conserve the large animal. This cutting-edge technology facilitates rapid response and investigation, enabling effective safeguarding of these majestic creatures. The newly developed AI-enabled collars continuously observe, analyse, and learn to identify behaviour patterns specific to each rhino. When registering ‘abnormal’ activity related to a possible poaching attempt, fighting, mating, giving birth or illness, the collar triggers an instant alert on ranger’s phones, pinpointing the incident's precise location via GPS. Thanda Safari’s earlier methods including foot collars and horn pods to monitor their black and white rhino populations didn’t prove effective. The limitations such as the use of telemetry units requiring line-of-sight, with no direct data recording capabilities or GPS functionality, necessitated a more sophisticated solution. Mariana Venter, Wildlife Operations Co-Ordinator at Thanda Safari, said: "For security reasons, this system is crucial in helping us catch poachers in the act. Additionally, it generates valuable data for tracking rhino movements, monitoring their health and all-round wellbeing, thereby enabling us to learn more about their habitats and differing home ranges. This is particularly relevant to the elusive Black Rhinos. Favouring thick bush, they are difficult to monitor, and as a result we can experience long periods with infrequent sightings". Thanda Safari's adoption of advanced AI-driven technology represents a significant step forward in combating poaching with statistics saying that South Africa lost 448 rhinos to poaching. TradeArabia News Service