Mark of the Penguins

They say no two adult African penguins have the same pattern of black spots on their chests. Until recently, however, scientists and researchers had yet to leverage this natural biometric phenomenon and long struggled with error-prone methods of tracking colonies with metal flipper bands.

With recent developments in the surveillance technologies used in wildlife tracking, researchers are now able to identify these unique marks and monitor individual birds in real-time over long periods.

First deployed on Robben Island in South Africa, a habitat for more than 20,000 birds, the software has not only been trained to recognize if there are any penguins in the camera's direct field of vision, but also to determine unique spot patterns to identify penguins and record the the bird's ID, in addition to the date, time and location of the sighting.

Researchers say the technology is adaptable to species other than penguins, too -- including cheetahs and sharks.

Bristol University Professor Barham, who developed the Penguin Recognition System, said, "For any species with patterned plumage, cheetahs or whale sharks for example, then the same technology could use the patterns as individual identifiers.

Exciting example of how biometric technology can be adapted to alternative habitats to eliminate the traditional manpower required and improve tracking accuracy, all the while drastically lowering costs. Think of it as facial recognition technology for the animal kingdom.

Look forward to seeing this technology adopted into other extreme environments, particularly species close to extinction. Maybe we go one step further past simple numbers tracking to learning more about daily habits and why some species are thriving and others dwindling (before they go extinct).