AI Joins the Fight to Save Russia’s Far Eastern Leopard
Researchers in St. Petersburg have built a digital assistant powered by artificial intelligence to help track and protect the world’s rarest big cat.
Russia is deploying advanced technology to safeguard its most endangered wildlife. Scientists at the Graduate School of Management of St. Petersburg State University, working with VTB Bank and the Far Eastern Leopards Center, have developed an AI assistant designed to monitor and protect the population of the Far Eastern leopard—the rarest large cat on the planet.
According to IT-Russia, the system fundamentally changes how ecologists and researchers work. It can process and organize decades’ worth of environmental data collected in Primorsky Krai, enabling precise assessments of the current state of ecosystems in national parks and reserves.
Key features include secure data storage, automated analysis of new information, and instant generation of analytical reports. This dramatically speeds up the work of conservation specialists, freeing them from routine tasks and allowing them to focus on critical decision-making.
Next steps for the developers include expanding the assistant’s capabilities. Soon, it will be able to recognize animal sounds and process thousands of camera-trap images automatically. This will make it possible to track individual leopards more accurately, assess their health and numbers, and strengthen protection for each member of the shrinking population.
