This is Vera. She is currently living at Hannover Zoo. She is also the namesake of our project, as she was the first polar bear we tested our software on.
How to participate
To further develop and improve the algorithms for video-based animal re-identification, we need to include more animals and other species in our datasets. This will enable a more meaningful evaluation of the performance of the different AI architectures. In addition, the generalizability of the algorithms can be tested. In the future, we also want to support research in the wild with video-based algorithms.
However, we are still facing some difficulties, such as the so-called open-world problem: an algorithm has to be able to classify animals not seen during training as new individuals. For this and many other questions, we now need your help. We require videos of single individuals, no matter with which camera they were recorded (CCTV, video trap, ...). Ideally, you can tell us which animals can be seen in the footage. However, we are also happy to look at the material and will try to do this annotation ourselves. In case of doubt, we can also discuss the data recording with you. Within Germany, we are able to equip zoological institutions with wildlife cameras and possibly visit you on-site to record the data ourselves.
We are happy to discuss the further process with you.
Data transfer
We offer Data Transfer via our own secure cloud server.
We will use the provided data for internal development only! It will not be published in any way without your permission!
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask! We highly appreciate your help!
Matthias Zürl
(matthias.zuerl@fau.de)