Listening Part 3 You hear a biology student giving a presentation about technology that helps to identify individual members of animal species. Complete the information on the notepad. Write short answers of one to three words. You will hear the presentation twice. You have 30 seconds to look at the notepad. Today I'm talking about how biologists are able to identify individual members of animal species. This can be important in terms of monitoring wildlife for conservation and research purposes. Past researchers relied heavily on methods of identifying individual animals that included things like electronic leg bands and collars. But such methods brought risk of injury, and even if any injuries were relatively mild, these methods gradually came to be seen as invasive. More importantly, they had the potential to affect an animal's behavior and could even increase the danger from predators because the movement could be impeded. In recent years, biologists have developed techniques that use each animal's unique features to differentiate between individuals. but involve minimal physical interference. A combination of biometric technologies and the unique characteristics of individual animals allows conservationists to monitor individuals without causing undue stress. So how do they do it? Fortunately, some animals have very clear identifiers. Take the zebra, for example. Scientists aren't exactly sure why a zebra has stripes. These markings may serve as camouflage or even help to keep biting insects away by creating a natural sunscreen. What's important for researchers is each animal's unique configuration of stripes. It isn't easy to study the patterns of zebras out in grasslands or woodlands, however. With this in mind, useful software was created, known as Stripe Spotter. This is free to use and enables scientists to identify individual animals in the wild by converting digital photographs of a zebra's flanks, that's the animal's sides, into a series of horizontal black and white bands. This creates a unique stripe code, and this technique is being used to build a zebra print database in Kenya. The basic idea behind this technology isn't entirely new. As long ago as 1921, farmers discovered that when they covered the noses of their cows with ink and pressed this onto paper, the resulting image was as unique as a human fingerprint. Indeed, there are similarities between the two, with ridges distinct to each individual. Creating cow nose prints is less invasive than typical ear tagging, but the method is time-consuming and difficult to use on a large scale. But in 2015, scientists in Egypt created a computer-based technique using algorithms. The program has a success rate of 96% and it's proved useful on farms for keeping data on breeding as well as the general health of individual animals. Recently, a similar technique was developed for identifying bats. By examining patterns of collagen elastin bundles on a bat's wings, it's now possible to differentiate between individuals without having to capture and tag them. Researchers were successful in using a type of protein in the bat's wings called wing collagen. This provides structural support to tissues and cells and acts as an identifier in many bat species. Even in bats whose wings have been damaged by fungus, the system has proved highly effective. A technology typically used for detecting passport fraud is now being used to study endangered lemurs in Madagascar. A team of naturalists and computer scientists created the Lemur Face ID database, which modifies human facial recognition software. This breaks down an individual lemur's identifying characteristics into tiny pixels, which researchers can use to track population change in this endangered species. In time, Lemur Face ID is likely to be modified to identify other primates facing extinction and could contribute to conservation efforts. Although the animals have similar fingerprints to humans, scientists tracking the Australian marsupials known as koalas prefer another method of tracking. They examine the patterns of skin tone on the animal's nose. The wild koala population has dropped since 1990 and the species is now classified as vulnerable. Being able to identify individuals allows the public to help conservation efforts. Anyone who spots a koala in the wild can take a photograph and help provide data on the whereabouts of individuals. Today I'm talking about how biologists are able to identify individual members of animal species. This can be important in terms of monitoring wildlife for conservation and research purposes. Past researchers relied heavily on methods of identifying individual animals that included things like electronic leg bands and collars. But such methods brought risk of injury and even if any injuries were relatively mild, these methods gradually came to be seen as invasive. More importantly, they had the potential to affect an animal's behaviour and could even increase the danger from predators because the movement could be impeded. In recent years, biologists have developed techniques that use each animal's unique features to differentiate between individuals, but involve minimal physical interference. A combination of biometric technologies and the unique characteristics of individual animals allows conservationists to monitor individuals without causing undue stress. So how do they do it? Fortunately, some animals have very clear identifiers. Take the zebra, for example. Scientists aren't exactly sure why a zebra has stripes. These markings may serve as camouflage or even help to keep biting insects away by creating a natural sunscreen. What's important for researchers is each animal's unique configuration of stripes. It isn't easy to study the patterns of zebras out in grasslands or woodlands, however. With this in mind, useful software was created, known as Stripe Spotter. This is free to use and enables scientists to identify individual animals in the wild by converting digital photographs of a zebra's flanks, that's the animal's sides, into a series of horizontal black and white bands. This creates a unique stripe code, and this technique is being used to build a zebra print database in Kenya. The basic idea behind this technology isn't entirely new. As long ago as 1921, farmers discovered that when they covered the noses of their cows with ink and pressed this onto paper, the resulting image was as unique as a human fingerprint. Indeed, there are similarities between the two, with ridges distinct to each individual. Creating cow nose prints is less invasive than typical ear tagging, but the method is time-consuming and difficult to use on a large scale. But in 2015, scientists in Egypt created a computer-based technique using algorithms. The program has a success rate of 96%, and it's proved useful on farms for keeping data on breeding as well as the general health of individual animals. Recently, a similar technique was developed for identifying bats. By examining patterns of collagen-elastin bundles on a bat's wings, it's now possible to differentiate between individuals without having to capture and tag them. Researchers were successful in using a type of protein in the bat's wings called wing collagen. This provides structural support to tissues and cells and acts as an identifier in many bat species. Even in bats whose wings have been damaged by fungus, the system has proved highly effective. A technology typically used for detecting passport fraud is now being used to study endangered lemurs in Madagascar. A team of naturalists and computer scientists created the Lemur Face ID database, which modifies human facial recognition software. This breaks down an individual lemur's identifying characteristics into tiny pixels, which researchers can use to track population change in this endangered species. In time, Lemur Face ID is likely to be modified to identify other primates facing extinction. and could contribute to conservation efforts. Although the animals have similar fingerprints to humans, scientists tracking the Australian marsupials known as koalas prefer another method of tracking. They examine the patterns of skin tone on the animal's nose. The wild koala population has dropped since 1990, and the species is now classified as vulnerable. Being able to identify individuals allows the public to help conservation efforts. Anyone who spots a koala in the wild can take a photograph and help provide data on the whereabouts of individuals.