This is an interview segment on BBC Three Counties Radio with Roberto Perrone and Martin, it was live on the 25 March 2024.
The topic was Artifical Intellegence and how it is helping research of Hedgehogs.
Sadly, our much-loved hedgehogs are threatened, having undergone considerable population declines in recent decades. To reverse this trend, we need to remove the threats they face and put in place practical conservation measures. A new National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme (NHMP) has been implemented.
The NHMP is an exciting new pilot project, that will, for the first time, produce robust hedgehog population estimates. Where previous large-scale surveys give us information on where hedgehogs are, this new survey will tell us how many there are. Surveys that indicate only where hedgehogs are present, don’t reveal how that population is faring until it has disappeared, but monitoring numbers can give us warning if the population is in trouble. We’ll also look at regional and habitat differences in hedgehog populations, to identify what factors impact them. With this knowledge, we will make effective conservation plans, so that we can reverse the decline of this iconic species.
Hornbeam Wood Hedgehog Sanctuary (http://www.hwhs.org.uk)
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