ABSTRACT
Understanding and monitoring wildlife behavior is crucial in ecology and biomechanics, yet challenging due to the limitations of current methods. To address this issue, we introduce WildPose, a novel long-range motion capture system specifically tailored for free-ranging wildlife observation. This system combines an electronically controllable zoom-lens camera with a LiDAR to capture both 2D videos and 3D point cloud data, thereby allowing researchers to observe high-fidelity animal morphometrics, behavior and interactions in a completely remote manner. Field trials conducted in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park have successfully demonstrated WildPose’s ability to quantify morphological features of different species, accurately track the 3D movements of a springbok herd over time, and observe the respiratory patterns of a distant lion. By facilitating non-intrusive, long-range 3D data collection, WildPose marks a significant complementary technique in ecological and biomechanical studies, offering new possibilities for conservation efforts and animal welfare, and enriching the prospects for interdisciplinary research.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
Revise the paper based on JEB reviewers' comments.
LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS
- LiDAR
- Light Detection and Ranging
- FOV
- Field of View
- CAD
- Computer-Aided Design
- ROS2
- Robot Operating System 2
- FPS
- Frames Per Second
- SAM
- Segment Anything Model
- RANSAC
- Random Sample Consensus
- IMU
- Inertial Measurement Unit
- PSD
- Power Spectral Density
- r
- Radius of circular path
- d
- Distance between the system and tracked object
- p
- Subject (person) position
- c
- the center of circular path
- X
- WildPose system position