Illustration by Justin Tran
Illustration by Justin Tran

Work Culture

How AI is spotting manatees in the wild

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Published on April 05, 2024

Manatees can be tricky to count—even for trained professionals. But scientists might find some help with a new machine learning method.

Manatees gather near Blue Spring. Photo courtesy Save the Manatee
Manatees can be tough to accurately count, as they often overlap. Courtesy Save the Manatee
The FAU study assessed the accuracy of various algorithms in identifying manatees in diverse settings. The Anisotropic Gaussian kernel approach (bottom) showed the most precision in complicated and dense scenes.
Save the Manatee researchers Wayne Hartley and Cora Berchem perform a manual count at Blue Spring. Photo by David Schrichte; courtesy STM