The Lion Identification Network of Collaborators (LINC) is a crowdfunded project from Lion Guardians, a Kenya-based conservation organization [PDF]. Using facial recognition software and images of the profiles of individual lions, LINC is helping researchers monitor population levels and where different lions travel in their migrations.
Lions don’t have big, identifiable marks like cheetahs or leopards that allow researchers to easily tell them apart, so they’re harder to track and monitor over time. Identifying a lion involves taking a high-quality photo of it and zooming in on small zones like whisker spots, but a computer can do that much more effectively than a human.
via Mental Floss
