Largest woodland bat survey a 'nice story of AI for good'

The red-listed Barbastelle is one of the rarest bat species in England Britain's largest ever woodland survey of bats would "simply not have been feasible" without AI, scientists say. Researchers left devices on poles among the trees of 310 woodlands across Britain, recording 98 million bat calls over three years, which would have taken more than 30 years to analyse without AI. Some of Britain's rarest and most threatened bats, including the red-listed Barbastelle, have been recorded in the south-west of England, including Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and Dorset. Kate Jones, from University College London, said: "AI has fundamentally changed the scale at which we can monitor wildlife." She added the survey was a "nice story of AI for good". Two veterans can make further MoD claim over LGBT ban Police chief calls for clearer e-scooter laws Wooden 194-year-old lighthouse in need of repairs Jones added: "Previously, analysing this volume of acoustic data would simply not have been feasible. "These efficient open-source AI tools allow us to identify millions of bat calls across thousands of nights of recordings, identify patterns and flag species at a national scale." The Barbastelle roams ancient forests but its elusive nature has made it challenging to track. Hotspots of Barbastelle activity detected in the survey were concentrated across the South West. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.