Recognizing Stripes, Not Faces, Software Tracks Whale Sharks
By Wendy Heller, January 1, 2008 @ 02:00 AM (EST)
Source: Nytimes.com
It doesn’t analyze shark faces, but rather individual patterns of spots and stripes on the fish’s skin.
Bradley Norman of Murdoch University in Perth worked with a computer programmer, Jason Holmberg, and a NASA scientist, Zaven Arzoumanian, to adapt software originally developed for telescopes to recognize patterns of stars and other celestial objects. Using thousands of photos submitted by researchers and others through a conservation organization, Ecocean, founded by Dr. Norman, the researchers were able to identify individual sharks around Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia, a prime sighting area for these huge fish.
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