Watching Over Species
ZSl conservationists use an array of pioneering techniques for gathering data and keeping an eye on vulnerable species. These projects include modelling the geographic distribution of populations, helping wildlife patrols protect scarce large mammals, making the most recent data on the status of species available worldwide and involving the public in recording animals through the latest smartphone technology.
National RED List Websites
National Red Lists enable nations to identify threatened species and develop effective action plans. The National Red List website is the first centralised source of national-level biodiversity data.
National Red List Website
New Tools for Wildlife Patrols
ZSL and partners' KIFARU wildlife monitoring system is used for rhinos across Kenya and Nepal, improving law enforcement and metapopulation management. An upgraded system, M-STrIPES, is used in India to protect tigers.
Read about wildlife patrol tools
Penguin 'DNA fingerprinting'
ZSL's Penguin Lifelines is pioneering techniques for monitoring the impact of climate change and fisheries on Antarctic penguins, allowing us to monitor vast areas from only a handful of research bases.
Read about Penguin DNA fingerprinting
Remote Control Sampling
ZSL Postdoc Dr Acevedo-Whitehouse invented a non-invasive technique to sample pathogens on live whales, involving a toy helicopter to collect exhaled gases and mucus.
More on remote control sampling
EDGE of Existence
ZSL's EDGE of Existence programme is the only global conservation initiative to focus specifically on highly threatened species with a significant amount of unique evolutionary history. We currently focus on mammals, amphibians and corals.
More about EDGE
Ibats
ZSL and the Bat Conservation Trust's Indicator Bats Program (iBats) uses a smartphone app that monitors bats. You can upload recorded calls to the iBats website, where they are identified by software.
Find out about Ibats
Instant Wild
The Instant Wild smartphone app is a unique conservation tool enabling the public to identify animals in live images from camera traps around the globe, directly helping conservationists monitor wildlife.
Visit Instant Wild
Surveying Population Densities
ZSL scientists have developed an innovative model that could revolutionise conservationists’ ability to determine species population densities. This couples formulae adapted from gas molecule physics with camera trap data.
Read about population modelling
Evolution Lost
Within the next century we stand to lose one quarter of all vertebrates. ‘Evolution Lost’, produced by ZSL with WWF, IUCN and SSC, considers for the first time the current status and trends of global vertebrates. More on Evolution Lost
