Zoometrics - biometric identification of wildlife using natural body marks

Using physiological or behavioral characteristics to identify humans has been in use for quite some time now. Many wildlife animals also show distinctive natural body marks that can be used to identify them individually. Scientists in conservation research often use this approach but the process is manual and can be slow and error prone. This paper reports on an investigation to use biometric techniques for the identification of an important endangered species – The Great Crested Newt. The paper reports on novel techniques for extraction of the belly patterns of these animals as a source of biometric information. Features and classification techniques used for their automatic recognition are presented. The proposed approach is tested on a database of newts under investigation by conservationists. Preliminary studies are also reported on the ageing effects when belly images are compared over a number of years. The results suggest that such biometric techniques may be suitable for developing effective and flexible identification of wildlife in the field.