To better monitor populations of geographic turtles, a vulnerable species, specialists now use artificial intelligence (AI) as a complement to their observations in the field.
Surveillance operations carried out on the natural banks of the Anse à l’Orme, by the lake of the two mountains, already used drones, but the AI was recently added.
The objective: to count and measure geographic turtles at the CAP-Saint-Jacques CAP-NATURE, in the west of Montreal.
This species of turtle has this particular that it takes a perfect weather to show off your nose.
The geographic turtles do not like the cold or the extreme heat, they love the sun, but not too much, the wind, yes, but not so strong.
Photo Martin Chamberland, La Presse
The objective of surveillance operations aims to count and measure geographic turtles at Cape Parc-Saint-Jacques, in the west of Montreal.
The inventory of turtles is carried out three times a year, from mid-May to the end of June, by a biologist in the city of Montreal, accompanied by a surveyor specializing in cartography and photogrammetry and a drone pilot. The operation aims to minimize the impact of recreational tourism activities on its habitat.
The species is classified “vulnerable”, according to the Quebec endangered or vulnerable species law.
Biologist Stéphanie Giguet, aboard a boat, observes the turtles using binoculars. The space in the boat is restricted. She explains that the ideal temperature to see the Testudines (scientific name of the order of turtles) is between 15 and 25 ° C.
Photo Martin Chamberland, La Presse
Stéphanie Giguet, biologist in the city of Montreal, Yannick Jeanet Christopher Alabarez
After several months of procedures, his team accepted that The press Participates in his last exit on the water, but only for rapid images. However, Carte Blanche was obtained to support experts from the Dronautical Unit, a geomatics division of the City of Montreal.
Height observation
It is 9:39 am, the boat is ready to take off from the launching ramp of the reception chalet of the Nature park. A few kilometers further, on the beach, the surveyor Simon Gignac and the drone pilot Luc Mathieu are already at work.
Photo Martin Chamberland, La Presse
The team is preparing to take off and start their surveillance operation at Cape Parc-Saint-Jacques.
They send a message to the biologist telling him that 22 turtles have mounted on the jets of what is called the haven-aux-Tortues. Three tetrapod vertebrates are observed on an abandoned beaver hut. Another specimen takes the air on a rock.
Photo Martin Chamberland, La Presse
Luc Mathieu, drone pilot
“Turtles are sensitive to noise. They disappear underwater if you approach too closely with the boat. We know the populations well, we know that our reinstatement and protection programs of banks work well. But I could not tell you exactly if the population, the number of females, tortillons [bébés] have increased or decreased, ”says Mr.me Giguet.
The time of calculation at the mity by biologists is over. After the brief tour in a rod, the team of The press joins the surveyor on the beach. Turtles are not prey for carnivorous birds. They are not frightened by the drone, which can descend 20 meters from the canopy.
Photo Martin Chamberland, La Presse
The 350 RTK dji matrix drone is equipped with a camera that can almost be a needle in a hay boot.
The drone is an impressive mastodon (dji matrix 350 RTK) provided with a camera that can almost be a needle in a hay boot. The surveyor opens the screen of his laptop in the bucket of his van. He points to the image of a turtle underwater. Simple twins would have difficult to observe it. Thanks to image processing, the expert can create an index and process the captures to avoid identifying the same turtle twice.
The power of AI
Currently, another technology is on the test bench: artificial intelligence. Thanks to the number of pixels that make up the images of the turtles, the AI makes it possible to calculate the dimension of each specimen at a few millimeters. Better still, it makes it possible to differentiate the females from the males and to identify the juveniles.
Photo Martin Chamberland, La Presse
Simon Gignac, surveyor of the city of Montreal
Preliminary results demonstrate that it is possible to detect 92 % of turtles. We even spotted turtles that had escaped the photo-interpretation.
Simon Gignac, surveyor of the city of Montreal
It is 10:48 a.m., there are 15 turtles on the Billots. One of them looks towards the sky, another throws itself into the water. The wind rises, which makes fear for the operation. Offshore, the boat’s boat bypasses a small island. Two branchus ducks take off, an egret deploys its white wings.
According to the surveyor, detection by drone, with AI, has many advantages on traditional follow -ups in a boat. Technology allows “a more effective counting, a potential of precise measurements of the number of females, the quality of the habitats”. The human remains however the king in time, he noted. According to the calculations of Mr. Gignac, a boat output with extraction of the data takes 9 hours. The same operation by drone takes 23 hours.
Read the article “Blue planet, green ideas: attention, crossing turtles!” »»
Consult the CAP-Saint-Jacques Parc-Nature website
Caapaces operation
14 152
This is the number of turtles counted in Quebec during their active season, from October 2024 to May 2025, as part of the Carapace project, overseen by the Organization Conservation of Nature Canada. The project consists in reporting in danger, especially on the side of the road, when they travel to find food, change habitat, find a partner or lay eggs. The organization points out that if we add 2 to 3 % of road mortality annually to current environmental pressures, a decline of long -term populations is possible for most species of turtles.
Photo Martin Chamberland, La Presse
The geographic turtle is a vulnerable species.
Consult the Carapace site for in danger turtles