SIMBA

Why in news?

• The Gujarat forest department has developed Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based photo-identification software, specially designed to distinguish patterns/marks to identify Asiatic lions individually.
• The software is named SIMBA (Software with Intelligence Marking Based identification of Asiatic lions.)

About SIMBA:

How does SIMBA works?

• Asiatic lions have unique whisker spots on either side of their muzzle. According to scientific studies, these precise patterns are highly variable and do not change over time.
• SIMBA works with a deep machine learning technique that matches a point-pattern for pairwise comparisons that automates the individual identification, based on the variability in the individual’s whisker spot pattern, the presence of scars on the face, notches on the ears, and other metadata of the photograph.
•  The software also extracts the uniqueness from the photograph and can cluster similar patterns or marks within the embedding space of the machine learning.

About Asiatic Lions:

• Asiatic lions are endemic to the Gir landscape of Gujarat.
• It is one of the 21 critically endangered species identified by the Union Environment Ministry for taking up recovery programmes. 
• Asiatic lions are slightly smaller than African lions and have unique whisker spot patterns.
• The Asiatic lions are also accorded the highest degree of protection and are listed in Schedule-I of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

An AI-based software called SIMBA, that individually identifies Asiatic lions based on their physical features, is deployed in:

(a) Desert National Park

(b) Gir National Park

(c) Bandipur National Park

(d) Dudhwa National Park

Answer