---
id: capture/megadetector-pytorch-wildlife-ecosystem
about:
  depiction: capture/megadetector-pytorch-wildlife-ecosystem.jpg
  label: PyTorch-Wildlife and MegaDetector
  description: >-
    Open-source wildlife detection models from Microsoft's AI for Good Lab,
    including MegaDetector for camera-trap images, and PyTorch-Wildlife, the
    framework that runs those models.
  tags:
    - wildlife
    - camera trap
    - detection
    - conservation
    - open source
    - computer vision
tool:
  form: open-source framework and models
  group: Wildlife and field monitoring
  homepage: 'https://microsoft.github.io/Biodiversity/'
  licence: >-
    MIT for the code; model weights vary by variant (MIT, Apache-2.0, AGPL-3.0
    or CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
  cost: free
open:
  source: open
  data: partly
  api: unknown
  participation: unknown
  licence: >-
    MIT (code); weights vary by variant (MIT, Apache-2.0, AGPL-3.0 or CC
    BY-NC-SA 4.0)
provenance:
  origin: agent
  sources:
    - title: >-
        Microsoft Biodiversity: Open-Source AI for Conservation | AI for Good
        Lab
      url: 'https://microsoft.github.io/Biodiversity/'
    - title: microsoft/MegaDetector
      url: 'https://github.com/microsoft/MegaDetector'
    - title: microsoft/MegaDetector-Overhead
      url: 'https://github.com/microsoft/MegaDetector-Overhead'
  created: '2026-10-17'
  reviewed: '2026-10-17'
  reviewed_by: 'Claude, from the sources listed'
  status: draft
import:
  source: openai-linkedin-scrape 2026-10-17
  id: DT050
  kind: enabling_platform
  family: enabling_technology_and_adjacent_work
  priority: supporting
  verified: false
  posts:
    - P012
    - P142
  posters:
    - Juan M. Lavista Ferres
    - Amy Rosenthal
    - Rhett Ayers Butler
domains:
  - ecology
---
PyTorch-Wildlife is a framework for building, sharing and running conservation models. The lab's Biodiversity hub groups it with:[^1]

- MegaDetector, for camera-trap images[^1,2]
- MegaDetector-Acoustic, for sound[^1]
- MegaDetector-Overhead, for drone and aerial imagery[^1,3]
- a model zoo of species classifiers[^1]

A camera trap is a motion-triggered camera left out in the field. MegaDetector draws boxes around animals, people and vehicles in its images, each with a confidence score.[^2] It does not identify species.[^2] Researchers use it mainly to discard empty frames before review.[^2] Dan Morris developed versions 1 to 5 at Microsoft.[^2] Version 6 uses the YOLOv9, YOLOv10 and RT-DETR architectures.[^2]

MegaDetector-Overhead, formerly called OWL (Overhead Wildlife Locator), applies the same approach to drone survey imagery, where targets are small and altitude and perspective vary.[^3] Its models include a checkpoint for caribou.[^1,3] No-code front ends such as AddaxAI, SPARROW Studio and a Hugging Face demo can also load the models.[^2]

Everything runs locally.[^2] `pip install PytorchWildlife` installs a Python API and a command line that write JSON detections per image.[^1,2] The code is MIT-licensed. Each variant's weights carry their own licence, and the overhead model and data release is CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.[^2,3]