Africa’s rarest antelope gets lifeline as AI ‘watches over babies in wild’

Fewer than 50 mountain bongos survive in the wild. Now, that number is about to grow, with help from computer scientists at Liverpool John Moores University.

Chester Zoo, a LJMU partner, has just transported four of the rare antelopes to Africa where their breeding will be watched over by a machine learning system, created at the university.

The four males, carefully bred in European zoos, will be released into the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy (MKWC) in what Chester calls a “landmark example of how modern zoos can pull a species back from the brink”.

The mountain bongo is recognisable by its rust red coat, bold white vertical stripes and long spiral horns, but habitat loss and poaching have reduced wild numbers to be fewer than 50, making it one of Africa's rarest animals.

Breeding programme

Experts at the Chester Zoo have spent more than eleven years coordinating a breeding programme across European conservation zoos. The four males now selected - chosen on the basis of age, health and genetics – are the first to ever be transferred from European zoos to Kenya as part of a rewilding effort.

Dr Nick Davis, Mammals General Manager at Chester Zoo, said: “The mountain bongo is perilously close to extinction but thriving in conservation zoos across Europe, with a number of important births in recent years helping to build a healthy, genetically strong population.”

On arrival at MKWC, they will be monitored closely and gradually become introduced to the existing breeding programme.

LJMU, working with the Kenyan Wildlife Service, has set up around 40 cameras to watch over the animals.

Software alerts rangers

“What we’re looking for are babies,” explains Paul Fergus, Professor of AI and Machine Leaning. “There are a lot of predators and any young they are hard to spot by human eye because the parents are very good at hiding them.

“Our software is trained to identify them and alert the rangers, who are then able to immediately go out and tag them. Once they know where they are, they can watch over them and help protect them.”

Dr Robert Aruho, Head of Conservancy at MKWC said the technology was playing a vital role: “Since April 2024, our partnership with Liverpool John Moores University Conservation AI team has provided the world's first AI-powered detection system for mountain bongos - cameras that provide real-time data on the animals' behaviour, movement and health without disturbing them.”

Stuart Nixon, Chester Zoo's Regional Field Programme Senior Manager for Africa, said: “Our newly developed AI-powered cameras are also revolutionising how the species is monitored in the wild, helping us protect them more closely than ever before. Combined with reintroduction efforts like this one, this work will change the tide for mountain bongos."

The Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy hopes to revive the Bongo to 750 individuals by 2050.