Post provided by Magnus Andersson

Animal tracking software no longer has to be costly or require advanced computational science skills to operate. Over the last decade, a significant number of free animal tracking software options have been released. However, many of these options suffer from infrequent updates and demand considerable computational expertise to utilize effectively. To address this issue, the creators of ToxTrac launched the first version of their popular animal tracking software in 2018, which was featured in Methods in Ecology and Evolution (MEE).

Six years on, the software has reached over 25,000 downloads and is widely used by a diverse group of researchers and educational institutions. With more than 30 updates over the years, the developers released a new version in February 2024, equipped with enhanced features. Notably, the 2024 update introduces an Advanced Detection model that includes Pre-processing, Background Subtraction (offering various options), Thresholding, Post-processing, and Filters, all designed for straightforward application.

The ToxTrac standalone application continues to produce user-friendly metric data sheets, which are available in text or Excel formats for easy analysis. It is important to note that ToxTrac is engineered to operate on PC systems without the need for high-end GPUs, making it accessible and user-friendly for all researchers.

With the release of this latest version, we are happy to see the community of developers who dedicate their time and resources to providing the research community with free software, all in the service of advancing research.

To test the software you can download the latest version and follow the updates here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/toxtrac/