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National parks and conservationists rely on GPS data to understand the resource needs and patterns of animals living in the wild.
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Now, that data is going into a mobile game where players track animals, based on their natural movements, in their own cities.
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In the augmented reality game, Safari Central, players follow real animals like Manyara, a 26-year-old elephant in Tanzania, WHO traveled 695 kilometers with her herd of elephants, in the last 5 months.
"Think of it as Pokemon Go, but where the animals are real animals, and where they move around a city based on their actual movements, not where we tell them to go," told Qartz Africa Gautam Shah, founder of Internet of Elephants, a US and Kenya-based start up, making Safari Central.
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The game is the first to use real tracking data
The company have data on elephants, lions, grizzly bears, jaguars, wolves, giant anteaters, frigate birds, vultures and other animals from organizations like WWF Brazil, Conservation International in the US, the Chicago Zoological Society, as well as conservation groups and parks based in Kenya and South Africa.
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The goal is to connect more people with the daily lives of animals and raise support for conservation efforts.
The startup, which is currently holding a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the game, plans to release a preview of the app in August and a full launch in December of 2018.
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