An Automatic Weighting System for Wild Animals Based in an Artificial Neural Network: How to Weigh Wild Animals without Causing Stress

Sensors

Diego Francisco Larios³  Carlos Rodríguez²  Julio Barbancho³  Manuel Baena¹  Miguel Ángel Leal³  Jesús Marín²  Carlos León³ 

[1] ICTS, Singular Scientific and Technological Infrastructure, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC), 41092 Seville, Spain; E-Mail:;Department of Wetland Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC), 41092 Seville, Spain; E-Mails:;Department of Electronic Technology, University of Seville, 41011 Seville, Spain; E-Mails:

关键词: sensor network;    habitat monitoring;    neural networks;    computational intelligence;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s130302862

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

This paper proposes a novel and autonomous weighing system for wild animals. It allows evaluating changes in the body weight of animals in their natural environment without causing stress. The proposed system comprises a smart scale designed to estimate individual body weights and their temporal evolution in a bird colony. The system is based on computational intelligence, and offers valuable large amount of data to evaluate the relationship between long-term changes in the behavior of individuals and global change. The real deployment of this system has been for monitoring a breeding colony of lesser kestrels (Falco naumanni) in southern Spain. The results show that it is possible to monitor individual weight changes during the breeding season and to compare the weight evolution in males and females.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.