AAAS: "AI tells beavers apart by the 'fingerpinrt' patterns on their tails." Computerized photoidentification of individuals could help researchers study recover of the species without stressing them. Castoridae comprise a biologic grouping within the order Rodentia of the 2 living species of beavers + their fossil ancestors. They use their leathery tails for steering while swimming, to loudly smack the water surface as an alarm call, + have neurologic sensors sensitive to moving water. This latter function allows them to sense leaky dam structures + patch them up. "According to a study published this week in Ecology and Evolution, a computer algorithm can accurately identify individual beavers by the pattern of scales on their tails, a bit like human fingerprints." The utility may facilitate the recovery of the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber), which was nearly hunted to extinction in the 19th century. Researhers had been estimating population size + movements using ear tags + radio collars. But the capture of beavers can be stressful, so scientists 'trained a pattern-learning type of artificial intelligence on images of tails from 100 Eurasian beavers that had been hunted in Norway.' Initial results in the laboratory under good lighting showed 96% accuracy, but use in the wild should be feasible. "In another study, published in the European Journal of Wildlife Research last year, the same team showed that adding a small plastic lens to automatic cameras in the field provided a fourfold boost in high-quality photosâgood enough to help computers identify some of natureâs most famously industrious animals." I have become enraptured of beavers lately, so can recommend 2 books: Beaver Land by Leila Philip, and Eager by Ben Goldfarb. While traveling recently, I completed a rough draft of a chapter on castorids, for their utility in quickly + inexpensively mitigating climate dilemmas such as flooding, drought, wildfire prevention, + preservation of biodiversity. This chapter will be in my next book, CLOUD DRAGON. Cheers.