Managing marked individuals

Marked individuals are animals in your database for which there is sufficient information to identify them upon recapture. This often means that the encounter record includes photographic evidence that reveals identifying characteristics. For example, WhaleShark.org relies on left side spot pattern recognition to identify unique individuals.

The following figure shows the Marked Individual table that appears when you choose Individuals → View All.

To add a marked individual to the Shepherd library, follow these steps:

1. Edit an encounter that has sufficient information to qualify as a marked individual.
2. Click edit on the Identified as: field.

   

3. In the panel, enter a unique ID in the Create Marked Individual field, then click create.

   

A marked individual may have multiple encounters. If an encounter, upon analysis, matches a marked individual record, follow these steps to add that encounter to the marked individual.

1. Edit the encounter that you want to include as part of the Marked Individual.
2. Click edit on the Identified as: field.
3. In the panel, Choose the Marked Individual id to which you want to assign the encounter, and enter that ID in the Individual field.

   

4. Choose the method of identification. Choose from one of the following analytical methods:
   • Pattern match
   • Visual inspection
   • Unmatched first encounter
5. Enable the Suppress e-mail/RSS option if you want to prevent interested parties from receiving email and RSS feed notifications about your changes. Leave the option unchecked to notify the interested parties. Emails will be sent to submitters, photographers, and adopters of each and every encounter of the marked individual.
6. Click Add.

   

To remove an encounter from a marked individual, follow these steps:

1. Edit an encounter that has been added to a marked individual.
2. Click edit on the Identified as: field.
3. In the panel, locate Remove from Marked Individual.
4. Click Remove.

   

   
   Manual: