自由時報

黃靖媗

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生態學家使用臉部辨識軟體追蹤灰熊

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梅蘭尼．克拉珀姆花費至少3年的時間，使用設置在金屬盒內、安全地綁在樹枝上的小型相機陷阱，拍攝英屬哥倫比亞海灘奈特灣灰熊的照片。

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在3年內拍攝數千張照片後，維多利亞大學這位行為生態學家與博士後研究生們，與2名矽谷軟體開發者、一家阿拉斯加灰熊研究中心合作，發展應用於辨識熊隻的臉部辨識技術。

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克拉珀姆說，公開的Bear ID軟體現在可以被任何人使用及修改，可能對於理解動物行為、緩解熊人相遇帶來巨大影響。

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Ecologist uses facial recognition software to track grizzly bears

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Melanie Clapham has spent the last three years snapping images of grizzly bears at Knight Inlet, on the B.C. coast, using small camera traps housed in metal and strapped securely to the forest branches.

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Three years and thousands of images later, the behavioral ecologist and postdoctoral student at the University of Victoria has partnered with two software developers living in Silicon Valley and a grizzly research center in Alaska to develop facial recognition technology used to identify the bears.

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Now, Clapham says, the open-source Bear ID software can be used and adapted by anyone and could have huge implications for understanding the animals’ behavior and mitigating bear-human encounters.

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