Technology developed to identify human faces is being adapted to help tackle the illegal trade in lemurs.Biometric expert Anil Jain has lent his knowledge to the LemurFaceID project, which is being launched in the jungles of Madagascar.Jain, who is professor at Michigan State University, told his university newspaper that the technology could prove crucial in spotting the endangered species.lemurs have unique facial characteristics that can be recognized by this system,” Jain says. “Once optimized, LemurFaceID can assist with long-term research of endangered species by providing a rapid, cost-effective, and accurate method for identification.”A data-set of 462 images of 80 red-bellied lemurs and 190 images of other lemur species has been created for the project.Study coauthors Rachel Jacobs of George Washington University and Stacey Tecot of the University of Arizona took many of the photos in Ranomafana National Park in Madagascar.”Studying lemur individuals and populations over long periods of time provides crucial data on how long individuals live in the wild, how frequently they reproduce, as well as rates of infant and juvenile mortality, and ultimately population growth and decline,” Tecot says. “Using LemurFaceID can inform conservation strategies for lemurs, a highly endangered group of mammals.”

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