AI Helps Track Africa’s Golden Cat

Ugandan conservationist Mwezi Mugerwa is leading the first population census of the African golden cat, one of the continent’s rarest and least-studied species. A new AI tool, developed with Panthera, helps identify individual cats from camera-trap images, enabling more accurate population estimates. Early data show very low densities and significant impacts from snares. Mugerwa’s community-based Embaka initiative works with local residents to reduce hunting and improve monitoring across the species’ range.