Astrophysicist helps count giraffes,

[SilverAstro]

, and other animals !

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-43546429

"She told BBC News that her work in identifying the most massive galaxies in the Universe from the light they emit helped her devise software that could identify different types of animal from the pattern of the heat they give off. "

From 6pm news just now.

 

[LukeSkywatcher]

6 minutes ago, SilverAstro said:

, and other animals !

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-43546429

"She told BBC News that her work in identifying the most massive galaxies in the Universe from the light they emit helped her devise software that could identify different types of animal from the pattern of the heat they give off. "

From 6pm news just now.

 

Help identify different animals from the heat pattern they give off?. Wouldnt it be cheaper and easier just to photograph them and say "Yep, that's a Giraffe".

Not the 1st or last time ive herd (pun intended) of stupid amounts of cash been given to people for absolutely stupid research.

Ive heard (no pun intended) of people getting silly money to study the patterns of animals and the directions they move in (as a herd), to formulate,predict and design models for weather patterns.

Everyone knows that if cows are laying down that there is rain on the way because they utterly hate laying on wet grass because their udders get cold and wet, so they lay down before the rain comes.

This is actually true.

[Galen Gilmore]

1 minute ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

Help identify different animals from the heat pattern they give off?. Wouldnt it be cheaper and easier just to photograph them and say "Yep, that's a Giraffe".

Not the 1st or last time ive herd (pun intended) of stupid amounts of cash been given to people for absolutely stupid research.

I think the point is to be able to identify, and track the animals from miles away. It would help to locate the endangered species and protect them accordingly without having to search for them through thick brush or at night. Could be wrong though.

[SilverAstro]

6 minutes ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

absolutely stupid research.

" But the problem was that they couldn't always identify the species - especially when they were far away. "

and various other reasons why conventional methods were not ideal .

[LukeSkywatcher]

2 minutes ago, Galen Gilmore said:

I think the point is to be able to identify, and track the animals from miles away. It would help to locate the endangered species and protect them accordingly without having to search for them through thick brush or at night. Could be wrong though.

I can see that to a degree (no pun intended). However........most mammals (if not all of us) share the same constant body temp, so it would be impossible to tell the difference between most mammal species if you were tracking them by heat signature alone. 

[LukeSkywatcher]

3 minutes ago, SilverAstro said:

" But the problem was that they couldn't always identify the species - especially when they were far away. "

and various other reasons why conventional methods were not ideal .

The heat signature from a human from far away will read the same as a Bull Elephant from the same distance. If you are using something like FLIR, then the shape will show up and pretty easy to tell one animal from another. FLIR though only works at short distances.

[Galen Gilmore]

1 minute ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

I can see that to a degree (no pun intended). However........most mammals (if not all of us) share the same constant body temp, so it would be impossible to tell the difference between most mammal species if you were tracking them by heat signature alone. 

Good point, maybe it has less to do with temperature and more with the specific heat pattern? Or something?

IDK, its a wild guess about a topic I'm not familiar with.

[SilverAstro]

1 minute ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

The heat signature from a human from far away will read the same as a Bull Elephant from the same distance.

",, her work in identifying the most massive galaxies in the Universe from the light they emit helped her devise software that could identify different types of animal from the pattern of the heat they give off.

Each species, she said, has distinct warmer and colder areas that are unique.,, "

I think it would be easier if you read the link ! and it would save my two typing fingers !!

[LukeSkywatcher]

Here's two FLIR images. Both species are mammal. Its pretty obvious what each image is. My point is that you cant simply identify an animal by the heat signature/pattern it gives off.

[domstar]

Very interesting. Thanks. Well worth a read.