Collecting Sound Evidence w/Automated Localization

[Jason C.]

Aloha Friends,

A few months ago I was listening to this report on National Public Radio (NPR) of how African elephants are being tracked using sound. Including their low-frequency calls...

NPR -- Listening To Elephants

They are using these devices from Cornell University...



They sure would be a big help in an area with a lot of activity -- because they allow for automated localization of individual creatures based on their digital sound print -- and can record for as long as THREE MONTHS with a range of 2 - 4 km with the lower freq sounds.

Of course they are NOT for sale -- and would be a pain to engineer yourself, but something like this I think is critical to a serious investigation of an area.

Aloha,

Jason

PS: They were used successfully to locate a woodpecker that was thought to be extinct.

[lookoutman7]

Jason-

Nice start! That 'piece' could help in the struggle.

I've researched the infrasound idea behind certain
creatures. This could be another avenue - like you
said...it could be expensive. What's the lottery up to?

Thanks for the link - I've checked it out.

lookoutman.

[Jason C.]

Aloha Lookoutman!

Nice start! That 'piece' could help in the struggle.

Yes! It would be a big help because...

(a) Exact traffic patterns/locations could be established.
(b) Camera traps and "video ambushes" could be set.
(c) Numbers of creatures could be determined.
(d) Specific id of creatures based on voice print.
(e) Knowing bedding areas and travel areas would allow further evidence collection: more scat, nests, and footprints would be located.

Basically it would allow us to quickly expand the body of evidence.

...like you said...it could be expensive.

I am going to check and see if any public funds have been used in the projects. If so, then US law says that it all becomes public domain information -- meaning we can get the schematics and software to build the things ourselves.

Aloha,

Jason

[Jason C.]

UPDATE

I found the software.

Some of it is open-source (free) because federal funds were used to create it for NOAA. Others can be purchased for around $400 -- although FREE demo copies are available.

I highly recommend downloading copies. You may not have a need for it now -- but later you might. The more people that have a copy -- the better.

I am going to keep researching the schematics...

Aloha,

Jason

[Deleted]

Jason...I'm sure that Sebastian and you will make a perfect team. Once you meet our resident "gadget man," I have a feeling you'll see exactly what I mean.
Sebastian is not only a very keen and knowledgeable Sasquatch researcher, but he is also a competent builder of a wide variety of specialized electronic devices. I will let Sebastian fill you in on all the technical stuff that I know nothing about.

Bushman

[Jason C]

Aloha Bushman,

...he is also a competent builder of a wide variety of specialized electronic devices.

Cool.

I was an avionics tech in the US Marines.

Maybe we can rig a Sasquatch stun-gun and solve the whole debate! ;D

Aloha,

Jason

[Deleted]

Jason said:

Aloha Bushman,

...he is also a competent builder of a wide variety of specialized electronic devices.

Cool.

I was an avionics tech in the US Marines.

Maybe we can rig a Sasquatch stun-gun and solve the whole debate! ;D

Aloha,

Jason

Jason:

I think you'll pleasantly surprised when you see some of camera and electronic devices Sebastian has put together from scratch.

Bushman

[sebastian]

Hi Jason C.,
First welcome! That is an interesting idea. Using sound to track animals in dense forrest is much better than any optical device that I can think of. The only downside is that: we don't know how sasquatch exactly sound like. There are alleged recordings, but nobody can asure that those ARE sasquatch vocalisations. Also in (at least) BC, there are mountains and vallies. Sound travel differently than in the flatter central African rain forrest. I don't know if I am correct, but echoes may pose a problem. Do you remember the novel "Jurassic Park"? In the novel, there was a system using shape recognition to count the dinosaurs on a regular time intervel. I wonder if you know if this technology is reality? I am thinking that we actually know the approximate size and shape of sasquatch.
Hi Bushman,
How can you compare me and "an avionics tech in the US Marines"? It is like you and me and Thomas and Gerry and Glen taking on the Red Wings for a little game of hockey.
LOL!
cheers,
seb

[Jason C]

First welcome!

Thanks!

The only downside is that: we don't know how sasquatch exactly sound like. There are alleged recordings, but nobody can asure that those ARE sasquatch vocalisations.

True, we are not positive. But we don't have to be.

Let me give you an example...

There have been lots of vocalizations heard in the area of the Harrison and Chehalis Rivers. Vocalizations that people suspect are sasquatch.

Set up the recording equipment and record over an extended period of time. If a suspect vocalization is heard, the location can be pin-pointed (using the equipment) and investigators can be sent in to look for sign: footprints, dung, nests, hair, etc.

The existence of other sign will increase the likelyhood that YES we have recorded a saquatch, and serve as a vocal fingerprint to speed up the identification of any future recordings.

The sound recording is merely a tool to help focus our efforts, which is exactly what Cornell researchers intended it for...

During the search for the ivory-bill in 2004-05, researchers from the Lab of Ornithology used ARUs to gather more than 17,000 hours of recordings from 153 sites across half a million acres of potential ivory-bill habitat. The goal of this large-scale acoustic survey was to give us a clearer idea of where ivory-bills were spending time, and thus to help focus current and future research into the numbers and status of the species.

You wrote: Also in (at least) BC, there are mountains and vallies. Sound travel differently than in the flatter central African rain forrest. I don't know if I am correct, but echoes may pose a problem.

Yes, I know. I was raised in BC.

I looked and bioacoustics are being used for Spotted Owls in the Pacific Northwest already. And for locating Pallid Bats in the BC Rockies. And for locating Marmonts on Vancouver Island.

It seems like the perfect piece of equipment...

It won't solve the mystery for us. But it will allow us to see patterns of movement -- and increase the body of information.

Aloha,

Jason

[Gerry]

Now that..is interesting!
Just to play Devil's Advocate here.. ;D
But you say that they can only track the elephants for just a few kilometers with accuracy. Or did I get that part wrong?
There I see a problem. You would still have to be in the right place at the right time to initialize first contact. Very very difficult to do.
Added to that, the fact ,,that squatch can allegedly cover territory at a very quick pace how would you be able to move the receptor equipment to keep up?
I would be interested in seeing how this would work with a band of apes or gorillas whose range is about 50 sq miles and see how well it can track them through dense foliage. I am talking about moving the receptor through that same foliage.
Here in the PNW, I think you would be hard pressed to keep up with a sasquatch and keep him in range. As you would very quickly be left behind in the brush. This is a rain forest jungle. and a subject capable of moving through it like no other known animal.