Scientists use AI to analyse Britain's largest bat survey

Researchers in Britain have finished the country's biggest woodland bat survey, covering 310 woodlands over three years. Recording devices were placed among trees to capture bat calls. The survey collected 90,000 hours of audio, which contained around 98 million individual calls.

Analysing all that audio by hand would have taken about 30 years. Instead, the team used artificial intelligence to do the work within the three-year project period. The Bat Conservation Trust and Forest Research led the study together.

The survey found several rare bat species, including the Barbastelle, which is listed as threatened. These bats were recorded in Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and Dorset. Researcher Kate Jones said AI has changed how much wildlife data scientists can now realistically study.