AnimalTA

New update! Version 3.2.2 is now available

You want to see the updates in the latest version of AnimalTA? Download the What's New Document!

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You can download here the last version of AnimalTA (v3.2.2) released on the 11^th of August 2024. This new version is compatible with all files created by older versions of AnimalTA.

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About AnimalTA

Scientific article: Chiara, V., & Kim, S.-Y. (2023). AnimalTA: A highly flexible and easy-to-use program for tracking and analysing animal movement in different environments. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 14, 1699– 1707. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.14115.

AnimalTA has been thought to be accessible to everyone, even to people without knowledge of coding or in image analyses. The program allows to process of a high number of videos quickly and manages multi-arena tracking. It is adapted to follow the movement of targets in non-uniform environments and with low-quality videos and proposes tools like video editing, corrections of camera tremors, or corrections of changes in lighting.

After the tracking, AnimalTA also allows the user to correct tracking mistakes or to re-run the tracking in a subsample of the video. Targets can be easily identified to facilitate video analyses.

A high number of analyses can be directly performed from within the program with complete control of the parameters and a direct overview of the results these parameters will furnish. The analyses that can be performed include various analyses of the trajectories, like analyses of speed or of distances traveled, but also analyses regarding spatial components like latencies to reach areas defined by the user, distances to a point, etc. Finally, between-targets interactions are also recorded and values like inter-individual distance or the number of contact events can be easily obtained.

> For more information, go check my GitHub.

Main features

Easy to use, with simple interface and user help always visible.
Track videos with low resolution or changing lightning conditions.
Tracking of multi-arenas with multiple individuals.
Available in five different languages.
Featuring both dark and light themes.
Various methods of target detection allow trackings in non-homogenous backgrounds.
Possibility of manual corrections post-tracking. The tracking can also be re-run over a small part of the video with parameters different from the original ones.
Various parameters can be set by the user with direct visual feedback on the effects of these parameters.
After the tracking, the user can add elements of interest by directly drawing on the video frames. Various kinds of elements of interest are available: points, segments, borders, rectangles, ellipsoids, or polygons. The program will then calculate various parameters related to these elements (distance to a point, time at a given distance from the point, number of times a line is crossed, time spent close to the border, latency to enter an area, time spent inside this area...).
Analyses of inter-individual interactions are available. AnimalTA will compute the inter-individual distances and record all contact or proximity events with their duration. Moreover, you will obtain crossed tables resuming the proportion of time pairs of individuals spent together or the number of observed interactions. Other measures such as the average number of neighbors an individual has or the group cohesion are also recorded.