AI and biodiversity | DW Documentary

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The sixth extinction of species is in full swing. In the race against time, researchers around the world are relying more and more on high-tech. This visually stunning documentary shows the race to build futuristic technologies to protect species.

Scientists around the world are working to protect animals threatened with extinction. Because the sixth extinction of species is in full swing. Around 150 species disappear every day. In the race against time, researchers around the globe are now relying more and more on high-tech methods.

The film takes viewers on a journey to meet with various scientists, start-ups and conservationists who are racing to develop these futuristic technologies.

Martin Wikelski's idea is an Internet of Animals. The director of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior researches the movement patterns of animals worldwide. His big data platform is called Movebank, and it already contains over six billion GPS points. A global prediction system for life on Earth is within reach.

In Germany, high-tech technology is used to protect endangered bird species from being killed by wind turbines. At the heart of the system is a camera-based technology that uses Artificial Intelligence to recognize within seconds whether a red kite or eagle is approaching and stop the rotor blades in time.

In Kenya, AI software is used to help determine animal population numbers faster and more accurately than ever before, using photos. The technology is very much needed, because the numbers of giraffes have declined massively in recent decades.

And off the coast of Corsica, marine biologist Alicia Dalongeville is searching for a species that was thought to be extinct: the angel shark. She fishes in the deep for eDNA, also known as environmental DNA.

Could high-tech become the key to species conservation?

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