• 한국수산과학회지
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• 제43권4호
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• pp.340-344
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• 2010

Identification of individuals is a standard tool used to study animal behavior and ecology. Numerous studies based on photographic identifications of various marine mammal populations have been successfully conducted. The objective of this study was to validate a photo-identification method for spotted seals. We tested the method using 4,939 photographs gathered in 30 field surveys from 2006 to 2008 on Baekryongdo, Korea. In 2006, 20 individuals were identified and cataloged using unique spot patterns on their left chick pelages as a natural marker. In 2007 and 2008, three and nine individuals, respectively, were recaptured, with six individuals continually recaptured during the entire survey period. We confirmed that the spot patterns of spotted seal pelages were constant in shape and location throughout time. These characteristics offered an opportunity to consistently identify individuals within a population over the long survey period. The use of photo-identification has great potential for mark-recapture studies.

• 한국수산과학회지
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• 제42권6호
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• pp.650-656
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• 2009

Recently, bottlenose dolphins have frequently appeared in coastal waters of the Jeju Islands. To determine whether these individuals belong to one or more pods, the Cetacean Research Institute (CRI) established visual and photo-identification surveys in the Jeju Islands from November 2007 to July 2009. During visual surveys, pods composed of 10 to 80 individuals were sighted mainly in the northeastern and northwestern of Jeju Islands. Eighty-nine individuals were identified and cataloged by photo-identification using natural nicks and notches on their dorsal fins. Thirty-six individuals were identified three times or more, and nine individuals were identified five times during seven surveys. One individual appeared in November 2007, August 2008, October 2008, April 2009, and July 2009. The results of our study confirm that these dolphins represent a coastal resident stock. Futhermore, we will establish dolphin abundance, management, and usage studies using continuous visual and photo-identification surveys.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• 제11권3호
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• pp.166-171
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• 2008

The feasibility of photo-identification techniques for the bottlenose dolphins from Jeju Island, Korea, and the potential for dolphin watching were simultaneously evaluated in this study. During the sighting survey, a pod of bottlenose dolphins composed of approximately 30 individuals was observed in the southwestern coastal area of Jeju Island. Among 35 suitable photographs, five bottlenose dolphin individuals were identified and cataloged using unique nicks and notches on their dorsal fins. This shows that the Jeju Island dolphins can be individually identified by the nicks and notches on their dorsal fins using photo-identification techniques. Furthermore, the Jeju Island population appears to be suitable for long-term population biology studies using this technique. The potential for dolphin watching around the island would be higher if more information on the seasonal distribution, movement, and residency of this population were obtained.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• 제43권4호
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• pp.385-389
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• 2019

Knowledge of abundance, or population size, is fundamental in wildlife conservation and management. Camera-trapping, in combination with capture-recapture methods, has been extensively applied to estimate abundance and density of individually identifiable animals due to the advantages of being non-invasive, effective to survey wide-ranging, elusive, or nocturnal species, operating in inhospitable environment, and taking low labor. We assessed the possibility of using coat patterns from images to identify an individual leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), a Class II endangered species in South Korea. We analyzed leopard cat images taken from Digital Single-Lense Relfex camera (high resolution, 18Mpxl) and camera traps (low resolution, 3.1Mpxl) using HotSpotter, an image matching algorithm. HotSpotter accurately top-ranked an image of the same individual leopard cat with the reference leopard cat image 100% by matching facial and ventral parts. This confirms that facial and ventral fur patterns of the Amur leopard cat are good matching points to be used reliably to identify an individual. We anticipate that the study results will be useful to researchers interested in studying behavior or population parameter estimates of Amur leopard cats based on capture-recapture models.