In the neotropics of Central and South America, the sympatric species of  jaguar (Panthera onca) and puma (Puma concolor) are threatened due to human activity. Being able to identify the absence or presence of each species within a given region is fundamental in developing effective conservation strategies. While these cryptic and elusive species are rarely observed in the wild, the tracks they leave behind are indicators of their presence and distribution. However, jaguar and puma tracks cannot be easily distinguished visually. 

In this talk, we unveil a new, intuitive field tool in JMP, allowing conservation biologists to rapidly differentiate between jaguars and pumas. First, we demonstrate how to extract features with the JMP FIT (Footprint Identification Technology) add-in and apply linear discriminant analysis. Next, we show how to extract the shape of a track with a statistical shape analysis in JMP. Finally, we predict the species using a neural network model of the shape coordinates, visualizing and exploring the output though a novel, interactive shape profiler tool.