Lethbridge Polytechnic's Wildlife Analytics Lab (WAL) has secured full funding for year one of a new applied research initiative integrating machine learning and artificial intelligence into wildlife age analysis.
The project is supported through the Alberta Minister's Special Licence Auction program, administered by the Alberta Professional Outfitters Society (APOS), along with additional funding from the Minister's Special Licence Resident Draw Grants, administered by the Alberta Conservation Association, totalling over $130,239 for the first year of the project.
"This level of external support reflects the growing demand for reliable, scalable age data in wildlife management," says Dr. Everett Hanna, WAL scientific lead and instructor in the School of Environmental Sciences. "We're excited to advance this work in collaboration with partners who bring complementary expertise in data, technology and applied wildlife science."
As Canada's only publicly accessible wildlife tooth aging lab, the WAL analyzes cementum annual growth layers in teeth - to estimate age, similar to how tree rings are used to age trees. These data are widely used in wildlife management to support disease monitoring, population assessment and conservation decision-making.
"APOS is proud of the role we have played in supporting the development of the WAL to date, and we are excited to see its continued growth and expanding capacity," says Corey Jarvis, president, APOS. "This forward-thinking collaboration demonstrates how hunter-generated funding can support excellence, continuous improvement and practical innovation that will benefit wildlife management in Alberta for years to come."
The initiative will focus initially on mule deer, a key species for monitoring chronic wasting disease and will involve digitizing thousands of archived tooth samples and developing machine learning models for image-based age estimation. By integrating these technologies, the WAL aims to improve efficiency, consistency and analytical throughput compared to traditional manual processing methods.
The project is being delivered in collaboration with One Health Medical Technologies based in Saskatoon, Sask., which is leading AI model development and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department Wildlife Forensics and Fish Health Lab, which is contributing data and supporting model validation. Together, these datasets will provide approximately 16,000 samples for mule deer model training and testing.
"The more samples we can feed into the model, the more accurate and reliable it becomes," says Hanna. "This scale gives us a strong foundation to develop robust, field-relevant tools for wildlife management."
"Our laboratory is very excited to be a part of this project," says Molly Bredehoft, tooth aging coordinator, Wyoming Game and Fish Department. "Having the ability to potentially increase production speed and number of samples we can process each year will provide biologists with more data for conservation decisions. Cementum annuli analysis started in Wyoming based on cooperation with others and I'm glad we can continue this tradition."
The initiative positions the WAL within a growing network of applied wildlife research partnerships spanning Canada and the United States, with future phases aimed at expanding the technology to additional species and exploring field-based applications, including image-based submission tools.
The project will also provide hands-on training and employment opportunities for students, who will be directly involved in data preparation, image analysis and applied research at the intersection of wildlife science and emerging technology.
"Working as a student technician in the WAL has given me hands on experience with specialized techniques and technology while opening opportunities to develop my practical skills, build professional connections, and gain better insight into careers in wildlife research and management," says Kayla Nicholson, laboratory technician, Centre for Business, Arts and Sciences and first-year Natural Resource Compliance student. "Our new project will streamline the aging process in the lab and allowing for clean, correct and concise data to better help sustainable wildlife management."
The WAL receives ongoing support from APOS, which has contributed nearly $350,000 since the lab's inception. In 2025, Lethbridge Polytechnic recognized this support by naming its student-focused teaching lab the Alberta Professional Outfitters Society Wildlife Conservation Lab.
Conservation of the natural world is a key component of Lethbridge Polytechnic's Environmental Sciences programs, where students are encouraged to develop solutions that support sustainability and responsible resource management. For more information, visit lethpolytech.ca/nature.
