Seal Identification
- Upload Seal Image: Select a clear image of a seal's face showing whisker patterns and facial features. The image should ideally show the seal from a frontal or slight angle for best results.
- Run the Model: Click the 'Submit' button to process the image. The model will extract unique facial features and search for matches in the database of known individuals.
- Review Matches: The system will display the top-k most similar seals from the database with confidence scores. High confidence matches typically indicate the same individual across different sightings.
Overview
The Seal Identification system enables researchers to track individual seals over time without physical tagging or invasive procedures. By analyzing unique whisker patterns, facial markings, and head shape characteristics, the model creates distinctive “fingerprints” for each seal that remain stable across seasons and years.
This technology supports critical conservation research by revealing:
- Individual movement patterns between haul-out sites
- Site fidelity and habitat preferences
- Long-term survival rates
- Reproductive success of individual females
- Social structure within seal colonies
Use Cases
- Long-Term Population Studies: Track individual seals across multiple survey years to estimate survival rates and population dynamics. By re-identifying individuals annually, researchers can build complete life histories without invasive tagging.
- Movement Ecology: Map how individual seals move between different haul-out sites within the Wadden Sea. Understanding connectivity between colonies informs conservation planning and marine protected area design.
- Reproductive Monitoring: Identify individual females and track their reproductive success over time. This provides insights into breeding frequency, pup survival, and factors affecting population growth.
- Behavioral Research: Link individual identification with behavioral observations to study personality, social networks, and learning behaviors within seal colonies.
Applications Beyond the Wadden Sea
While developed for Wadden Sea seal monitoring, this re-identification approach is transferable to other seal populations and marine mammal species worldwide. The same computer vision techniques can enable non-invasive individual tracking in diverse conservation contexts, from Arctic ice seals to Antarctic fur seals.
Learn More
For complete details on the broader Wadden Sea seal monitoring project, including the multi-classifier detection system and web application for researchers, visit the project page.