Document Type
Article
Keywords
Computer Vision, Animal Tracking
Disciplines
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics | Behavior and Ethology | Robotics
Abstract
The Kihansi spray toad (Nectophrynoides asperginis), classified as Extinct in the Wild by the IUCN, is being bred at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Bronx Zoo as part of an effort to successfully reintroduce the species into the wild. Thousands of toads live at the Bronx Zoo presenting an opportunity to learn more about their behaviors for the first time, at scale. It is impractical to perform manual observations for long periods of time. This paper reports on the development of a RGB-D tracking and analytics approach that allows researchers to accurately and efficiently gather information about the toads’ behavior. A method of automated tracking based on raw movement information acquired via depth stream provided by Intel’s SR300 RGB-D camera is developed. Depth and color video streams are used to effectively track movement of small targets. Depth information identifies regions of interest from any motion detected, whereas color correlation is used to identify targets from detected motion. Challenges to be overcome include dealing with small and variable shapes of targets, their varying motion speeds, and the sheer quantity of target information. The resulting tracking system outputs sets of 3D movement tracks with timestamps. These movement tracks are then processed to display the toad target track graphs in 2D and 3D graphs, 2D heatmaps showing areas of localized activity, and multi-track analytics to detect gross activity, potential fight activity, and potential mating activity graphs. Results from automated tracking of toads under various lighting conditions over multiple days are reported and discussed.
Publication Title
Herpetological Review
Volume
51
Issue
1
Article Number
1079
Publication Date
Spring 3-2020
First Page
37
Last Page
46
Extent
9
Publisher
Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
Language
United States
Peer Reviewed
1
Recommended Citation
Bal, Philip; Lyons, Damian; and Shuter, Avishai, "A New Ectotherm 3D Tracking and Behavior Analytics System Using a Depth-based Approach with Color Validation, with Preliminary Data on Kihansi Spray Toad (Nectophrynoides asperginis) Activity" (2020). Faculty Publications. 70.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/frcv_facultypubs/70
Version
Published
Subjects
Computer Vision, Animal Tracking
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Included in
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Commons, Behavior and Ethology Commons, Robotics Commons
