Scientists at the University of Cambridge are using an AI-powered system called Tessera to analyse detailed satellite images of the UK and pinpoint where hedgehogs live and where their habitats are disappearing.
The system creates highly detailed landscape maps, capable of identifying features such as individual hedgerows while also predicting hedgehog-friendly areas hidden beneath cloud cover.
Researchers hope the technology will reveal not only where hedgehogs are found, but also the obstacles preventing them from safely moving, feeding and finding mates.
Britain’s hedgehog population has suffered dramatic declines in recent decades.
A 2022 study estimated rural hedgehog numbers had fallen by as much as 75 per cent since 2000, while the western European hedgehog, Britain’s only native species, is now classified as 'Near Threatened' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The Tessera project combines satellite analysis with additional field data, including miniature GPS devices attached to some hedgehogs to monitor their movements.
Researchers have nicknamed the tracked animals "digi-hogs".
Silviu Petrovan, strategy and research manager at the People’s Trust for Endangered Species, said AI could provide new conservation insights.
He said: "What we're really hoping is that we can use these really powerful models to understand, for instance, what are the very specific barriers for hedgehogs to find food and find their mates, and be able to safely move around the countryside?"
The system required enormous computing resources to build.
Researchers trained Tessera using roughly 20 petabytes of data, equivalent to around 10 billion standard digital photographs.
After exhausting the university’s available computing capacity, scientists reportedly installed additional processors beneath their desks to continue processing data.
Support from US technology companies AMD and Vultr later expanded the project’s infrastructure.
Anil Madhavapeddy, professor of planetary computing at the University of Cambridge, said Tessera’s applications extend far beyond hedgehog conservation.
He said: "Satellite data is really complicated to use and really noisy, because you have to do things like cloud removal and adjust for day and night, and so on.
"Tessera compresses loads of that data and gives us really easy-to-use maps of the UK, where we can ask really specific questions about things we can see from space."
