Noninvasive Technologies for Primate Conservation in the 21st Century

Abstract

Observing and quantifying primate behavior in the wild is challenging. Human presence affects primate behavior and habituation of new, especially terrestrial, individuals is a time-intensive process that carries with it ethical and health concerns, especially during the recent pandemic when primates are at even greater risk than usual. As a result, wildlife researchers, including primatologists, have increasingly turned to new technologies to answer questions and provide important data related to primate conservation. Tools and methods should be chosen carefully to maximize and improve the data that will be used to answer the research questions. We review here the role of four indirect methods—camera traps, acoustic monitoring, drones, and portable field labs—and improvements in machine learning that offer rapid, reliable means of combing through large datasets that these methods generate. We describe key applications and limitations of each tool in primate conservation, and where we anticipate primate conservation technology moving forward in the coming years.

Principal Drivers and Conservation Solutions to the Impending Primate Extinction Crisis: Introduction to the Special Issue

“…These authors argue that conservation management programs that connect small forest fragments to larger forest patches offer the most effective solution to protecting this species from extinction. Piel et al (2021) provide a review of state-of-the-art noninvasive technologies including portable field labs, drones, cameras, and acoustic devices that facilitate the collection and analysis of large datasets needed for primate conservation. Using these technologies, along with improvements in machine learning, researchers can collect continuous data covering larger spatial scales and over long periods of time.…”

Monitoring Technologies for Animal Welfare: A Review of Aspirations and Deployments in Zoos

“…It minimizes disturbances to wildlife and detects animals which are colder, warmer, or the same as their background temperature because it does not compare temperatures but detects heat emissions of the animal against its background. [63] reviewed four indirect noninvasive methods for primate conservation -camera traps, acoustic monitoring, drones, and portable field labs-and improvements in machine learning that offer rapid, reliable means of combing through the large datasets these methods generate.…”

“…Alerts would also prove useful with drones when large zoo animals are transferred to sanctuary type settings, as happens with the progressive zoos. Those animals still need monitoring for support, especially while in transition and adjusting to their new circumstance [38], [39], [53]- [55], [59], [63][72], [74], [75], [81].Useful also for monitoring in wildlife sanctuaries or for wildlife per se.…”

Estimating abundance of a recovering transboundary brown bear population with capture-recapture models

“…Invasive physical tagging-based methods are difficult to implement, so population monitoring consequently often needs to rely on non-invasive sampling methods (Long & Zielinski 2008;Thompson 2013). Among them, molecular tools and camera trapping are now commonly used methods (e.g., Forsyth et al 2022;Piel et al 2022;Proctor et al 2022). For species lacking unique natural individual patterns that can be identified from photos, non-invasive genotyping of DNA extracted from animal hair or scat often remains the most practical solution to estimate population abundance (Waits & Paetkau 2005).…”