Using intelligent video to protect Amur tigers

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"When China’s wild Amur tiger population reached record low numbers, the local division of the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) knew it had to act fast. Thanks to Hikvision cameras featuring cutting-edge Intel® processing, the WWF conservation team will be able to intelligently and accurately record and monitor these animals, and protect their habitat,” says Zhou Zhenhua, Hikvision Product Manager.

The Amur tiger (also known as the Siberian tiger) is one of the largest cats in the world. Typically a paler orange color than other tiger sub-populations, these beautiful beasts also have a longer, thicker coat, a heavier mane, and extra-furry paws – all to protect them from the bitter cold temperatures of their natural Siberian habitat.

Sadly, the history of the Amur tiger has been fraught with danger and threats. Plagued by deforestation, hunting, habitat degradation and other human activity, the population in the wild has been shrinking for many years. In 2017, cameras detected only 24 living Amur tigers in China – a situation that called for urgent action.

The conservational power of intelligent video

To tackle the immediate endangerment of the Amur tiger, Hikvision started working with Intel in 2018 to design a new video-based solution for the WWF. This helps the local WWF team to accurately detect and monitor wild Amur tigers while advancing a digital, intelligent transformation of wildlife protection.

The solution utilizes Hikvision's intelligent cameras for wildlife protection, equipped with Intel® Movidius™ AI Vision Processing Units (VPU), and the project team has developed and installed a front-end target detection algorithm that greatly improve the processing efficiency. This also helps saving battery power for the smart-camera trap, by avoiding capturing useless images. Based on deep learning technology, the solution installed with the target detection algorithm can accurately detect and capture the images of Amur tigers.

In this way, the conservation team can use the cameras to identify an Amur tiger when in view, intelligently filtering out images that are not relevant and thus reducing the workload.

Continuous innovation for renewed hope

The new solution has the potential to transform the way in which the WWF and forest rangers go about their conservation activities. And importantly, it has great potential for the future.

Soon, forest rangers will be able to upload pictures they have taken themselves through handheld terminals or smart field camera traps, submitting them for analysis using the same fast processing and intelligent features. The conservation team will also be able to use the data collected to track animals, monitor their behavior patterns, and keep a watchful eye over their habitat – a capability which offers value both for Amur tigers, and other rare wild animals in the region.

“Amur tigers are at the top of the natural food chain. For that reason, their living status is an important indicator of the health of the entire ecosystem,” says WWF Anti-Poaching Officer, Liu Duo. “Through intelligent video monitoring from Hikvision and Intel, we can analyze the biodiversity of the ecosystem, identifying problems and deciding on feasible countermeasures to mitigate the deterioration of the environment.”

Find out more

Hikvision is committed to exploring how innovative technology can secure the sustainability and biodiversity of the world. To find out more about our environmental protection solutions and the value they can deliver to conservation, please refer to Hikvision official website or contact us at GLOBALPR@hikvision.com.