discussion / AI for Conservation  / 22 August 2025

Proof of concept - Polar bear detection

This morning at 06:08 local time, the polar bear detector that Lars Holst Hansen and Kim Hendrikse from Wildlife Security Solutions have been working on for more than a year detected a polar bear in Greenland.


Bear detected
 

The system is scanning 24 video streams viewing each camera once every couple of seconds looking for polar bears. 7 of those streams are real-time digital zooms providing for reliable longer distance detection. All this is happening on just one Jetson edge computer.

When a bear is detected an alert is generated as well as waking a talking monitoring system that speaks where the bear was seen. Lars in Greenland received alerts as well as me in the Netherlands. The talking monitoring system is just a simple raspberry with a USB speaker but can monitor as many remote systems as you configure.

This bear managed to only have a very quick look around Zackenberg research station before being scared off.



 

Scared off, saving the lives off both the bear and people.


Bear retreating
 

With the successful detection this morning, I'm proud to say, the system has proven itself to be a working, practical and scalable solution.