---
license: cc0-1.0
task_categories:
- video-classification
language:
- en
tags:
- zebra
- giraffe
- Grevys
- video
- drone
- UAV
- wildlife
- Kenya
- Mpala
- imageomics
- animals
pretty_name: KABR Raw Videos
size_categories:
- 10M<n<100M
description: "This dataset contains the raw, unprocessed drone video footage collected during the creation of the KABR (Kenyan Animal Behavior Recognition) dataset. Unlike the processed KABR mini-scene dataset which contains extracted video clips with behavioral annotations, this collection provides the original full-frame drone videos captured at the Mpala Research Centre in Kenya. The dataset includes raw MP4 video files featuring giraffes, plains zebras, and Grevy's zebras in their natural habitat. Some videos have been trimmed to remove non-wildlife or privacy-sensitive footage, ensuring privacy and focusing the content on wildlife footage."
---

# Dataset Card for KABR Raw Videos: Unprocessed Drone Footage for Kenyan Animal Behavior Analysis
## Dataset Description

- **Homepage:** https://imageomics.github.io/KABR/
- **Repository:** https://github.com/Imageomics/kabr-tools
- **Related Paper:** [kabr-tools: Automated Framework for Multi-Species Behavioral Monitoring](https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.02030)
- **Point of Contact:** Jenna Kline

### Dataset Summary

This dataset contains the raw, unprocessed drone video footage collected during the creation of the KABR (Kenyan Animal Behavior Recognition) dataset. 
Unlike the processed [KABR mini-scene dataset](https://huggingface.co/datasets/imageomics/KABR) which contains extracted video clips with behavioral annotations, 
this collection provides the original full-frame drone videos captured at the Mpala Research Centre in Kenya.
The dataset includes raw MP4 video files featuring giraffes, plains zebras, and Grevy's zebras in their natural habitat. 
Some videos have been trimmed to remove non-wildlife or privacy-sensitive footage, ensuring privacy and focusing the content on wildlife footage. 
Each video is accompanied by its corresponding SRT subtitle file containing metadata such as GPS coordinates, altitude, and camera settings recorded during flight.
The raw footage provides researchers with access to the complete, unedited visual context that was used to generate the behavioral annotations in the main KABR dataset. This enables studies of animal detection, tracking, environmental context analysis, and development of preprocessing pipelines for wildlife video analysis.
The drone footage is captured at a resolution of 4-5.4K, recorded at a frame rate of 29.97 frames per second using DJI Air 2S drone.

### Supported Tasks and Leaderboards
This raw video dataset supports various computer vision tasks including:

- Animal Detection: Detecting giraffes, plains zebras, and Grevy's zebras in natural settings
- Animal Tracking: Following individual animals across video sequences
- Behavior Analysis: Developing methods for temporal behavior recognition
- Environmental Context Analysis: Studying animal behavior in relation to environmental factors
- Video Preprocessing: Developing pipelines for extracting regions of interest from drone footage
- Multi-object Tracking: Tracking multiple animals simultaneously in wide-field drone videos

No specific leaderboards are maintained for this raw footage, as it serves as source material for developing and 
testing preprocessing methods rather than as a benchmark dataset itself.

### Languages
English (metadata and documentation)

## Dataset Structure
The dataset is organized by collection session, with each session corresponding to a specific date and filming session. The abbreviated overview below lists all session folders; bracketed ranges denote separate folders (for example, `session_[1-5]` represents sessions 1 through 5). Session folders contain original MP4 video files, trimmed MP4 video files when non-wildlife or privacy-sensitive footage was removed, SRT metadata files when available, and a `readme.txt` documenting trimming and non-uploaded source files when applicable:
```
KABR_Raw_Videos/
├── 11_01_23_session_1/
├── 12_01_2023_session_2_air/
├── 14_01_2023_session_[1-5]/
├── 16_01_23_session_1/
├── 17_01_2023_session_[3-4]/
├── 18_01_2023_session_[1-8]/
├── 19_01_2023_session_[1-6]/
├── 20_01_2023_session_[1-6]/
└── 21_01_2023_session_[1-6]/
```

### File Types:
- .MP4 files: Raw drone video footage
- _trimmed.mp4 / _trimmed.MP4 files: Videos that have been trimmed to remove non-wildlife or privacy-sensitive footage, such as drone takeoff/landing, gimbal-down footage, people, or vehicles
- .SRT files: Subtitle files containing flight metadata (GPS coordinates, altitude, camera settings, timestamps)
- readme.txt files: Documentation explaining trimming decisions, non-uploaded source files, or other session-specific notes

### Data Instances
**Naming Convention:**
Video files follow the DJI drone naming convention DJI_XXXX.MP4 where XXXX is a sequential number assigned by the drone camera. Sessions are organized by date and session number.
Video Specifications:

Resolution: 4K or 5.4K 
Frame Rate: 29.97 fps
Format: MP4
Recording altitude: 10-50 meters above animals
Duration: Variable per clip

**Metadata:** Each video, except those in `11_01_23_session_1/` and `12_01_2023_session_2_air/`, has a corresponding .SRT file containing:
- GPS coordinates
- Altitude information
- Camera settings (ISO, shutter speed, etc.)
- Timestamp data
- Flight telemetry

### Data Fields
Video Content: Raw drone footage containing:

- Reticulated giraffes (_Giraffa reticulata_), Plains zebras (_Equus quagga_), and Grevy's zebras (_Equus grevyii_) 
in their natural habitat
- Natural savanna landscape
- Multiple animals per video in many cases
- Various lighting and weather conditions

#### Trimming Status:
- Original videos: Complete, unmodified drone footage
- Trimmed videos: Sections containing non-wildlife or privacy-sensitive footage have been removed
- Most session folders contain at least one trimmed MP4 file; exceptions are `11_01_23_session_1/`, `14_01_2023_session_4/`, `16_01_23_session_1/`, `18_01_2023_session_1/`, `18_01_2023_session_5/`, `19_01_2023_session_1/`. Trimming decisions and non-uploaded source files are documented in the relevant session `readme.txt` files.

### Data Splits
This raw video dataset does not have formal train/validation splits, as it serves as source material rather than a processed training dataset. Researchers can define their own splits based on sessions, dates, or content as needed for their specific applications.

## Dataset Creation
### Curation Rationale
This raw video dataset was created to provide researchers with access to the complete, unprocessed drone footage used 
for the kabr-tools analysis. Please see [KABR mini-scene videos](https://huggingface.co/datasets/imageomics/KABR-mini-scene-videos) 
for the full videos used to generate the initial mini-scene release.
While the [initial KABR dataset](https://huggingface.co/datasets/imageomics/KABR) contains processed mini-scenes focused on individual animals with behavioral annotations, 
this raw footage enables:
- Method Development: Researchers can develop and test their own animal detection, tracking, and behavior analysis pipelines from scratch
- Context Preservation: The full-frame footage maintains environmental context that may be important for understanding animal behavior
- Preprocessing Research: Enables development of improved methods for extracting regions of interest from drone footage
- Data Augmentation: Raw footage can be processed in multiple ways to create different training scenarios
- Reproducibility: Provides the source material for validating and reproducing the KABR dataset creation process

The inclusion of flight metadata through SRT files allows researchers to incorporate spatial, temporal, and technical recording parameters into their analyses.

### Source Data
#### Initial Data Collection and Normalization
Data was collected from 10 January 2023 through 21 January 2023 at the Mpala Research Centre in Kenya under a Nacosti research license. 
We used DJI Air 2S drones equipped with cameras to record 4K and 5.4K resolution videos from varying altitudes and distances of 10 to 50 meters from the animals.
The sessions `11_01_23_session_1/` and `12_01_2023_session_2_air/` were collected with a DJI Air drone and do not contain detailed SRT files or mission notes.

**Privacy Protection and Footage Filtering:** Some videos have been trimmed to remove non-wildlife or privacy-sensitive footage, including drone takeoff/landing, gimbal-down footage, people, or vehicles. 
The specific modifications made to each session are documented in the respective `readme.txt` files.



### Personal and Sensitive Information
- Privacy Measures: Videos containing people, vehicles, or other non-wildlife footage have been trimmed or excluded as needed. The original wildlife content has been preserved to the maximum extent possible.
- Location Information: While exact GPS coordinates are contained within the SRT metadata files, all filming was conducted within the protected Mpala Research Centre preserve in Kenya, where the wildlife is monitored and protected.
- Species Protection: Though endangered species (Grevy's zebras) are included in this footage, their safety is assured by their location within the research preserve, and the footage contributes to conservation research efforts.


## Considerations for Using the Data
### Intended Use Cases
This raw video dataset is intended for:
- Computer vision research in wildlife monitoring
- Development of animal detection and tracking algorithms
- Behavioral analysis method development
- Drone-based wildlife survey technique improvement
- Educational purposes in wildlife research and computer vision

### Limitations
Content Limitations:
- Limited to three species: giraffes, plains zebras, and Grevy's zebras
- All footage from single location (Mpala Research Centre, Kenya)
- Limited temporal range (9 collection dates in January 2023)
- Some videos have been trimmed, potentially affecting continuity

#### Technical Limitations:
- Large file sizes may require significant storage and bandwidth
- High resolution requires substantial computational resources for processing
- Varying lighting and weather conditions across footage
- Natural occlusions and camera movement present in drone footage

### Additional Information
**Dataset Size**
The dataset contains 201 MP4 video files across 36 session folders, with total size dependent on video duration and compression. 
Each session folder contains 1-13 video files, with most containing 6-7 video files. Individual files range from short clips to videos over 10 minutes in length.

**Relationship to initial KABR dataset release**
This raw video collection is similar the source material from which the processed 
[KABR behavioral recognition dataset](https://huggingface.co/datasets/imageomics/KABR) was created. 
Researchers using both datasets can:
- Validate the mini-scene extraction process
- Develop alternative preprocessing approaches
- Study the relationship between behavioral annotations and full environmental context
- Create new datasets with different extraction parameters

## Additional Information

### Authors

* Jenna Kline (The Ohio State University) - ORCID: 0009-0006-7301-5774
* Maksim Kholiavchenko (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) - ORCID: 0000-0001-6757-1957
* Michelle Ramirez (The Ohio State University)
* Sam Stevens (The Ohio State University)
* Alec Sheets (The Ohio State University) - ORCID: 0000-0002-3737-1484
* Reshma Ramesh Babu (The Ohio State University) - ORCID: 0000-0002-2517-5347
* Namrata Banerji (The Ohio State University) - ORCID: 0000-0001-6813-0010
* Elizabeth Campolongo (The Ohio State University) - ORCID: 0000-0003-0846-2413
* Matthew Thompson (The Ohio State University) - ORCID: 0000-0003-0583-8585
* Nina Van Tiel (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) - ORCID: 0000-0001-6393-5629
* Jackson Miliko (Mpala Research Centre)
* Neil Rosser (Princeton University)
* Isla Duporge (Princeton University)
* Charles Stewart (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)
* Tanya Berger-Wolf (The Ohio State University) - ORCID: 0000-0001-7610-1412
* Daniel Rubenstein (Princeton University) - ORCID: 0000-0001-9049-5219

## Licensing Information
This dataset is dedicated to the public domain for the benefit of scientific pursuits. We ask that you cite the dataset and related journal paper if you make use of it in your research.

### Citation Information
**Dataset:**
```
@misc{KABR_Raw_Videos,
	author       = { Jenna Kline and Maksim Kholiavchenko and Michelle Ramirez and Samuel Stevens and Alec Sheets and Reshma Ramesh Babu and Namrata Banerji and Elizabeth Campolongo and Matthew Thompson and Nina Van Tiel and Jackson Miliko and Neil Rosser and Isla Duporge and Charles Stewart and Tanya Berger-Wolf and Daniel Rubenstein },
	title        = { KABR Raw Videos: Unprocessed Drone Footage for Kenyan Animal Behavior Analysis (Revision 7f68338) },
	year         = 2026,
	url          = { https://huggingface.co/datasets/imageomics/KABR-raw-videos },
	doi          = { 10.57967/hf/10140 },
	publisher    = { Hugging Face }
}
```
**Note:** 

- The latest update to this dataset (since [Revision d002bb6](https://huggingface.co/datasets/imageomics/KABR-raw-videos/commit/d002bb61b5bddf230ba7f81c7bd2287a881b349c)) adds all the remaining drone videos (31 session folders, containing 180 video files) that were not used to generate mini-scenes for the [original KABR dataset](https://huggingface.co/datasets/imageomics/KABR). One "_air" mission, from the first update, was also renamed.
- [Revision d002bb6](https://huggingface.co/datasets/imageomics/KABR-raw-videos/commit/d002bb61b5bddf230ba7f81c7bd2287a881b349c) added the two "_air" missions on top of the original release in [Revision fda789c](https://huggingface.co/datasets/imageomics/KABR-raw-videos/commit/fda789ce0b0f73f936964a08c2492e814d30dca4).

**Related Papers**
```
@misc{kline2025kabrtoolsautomatedframeworkmultispecies,
      title={kabr-tools: Automated Framework for Multi-Species Behavioral Monitoring}, 
      author={Jenna Kline and Maksim Kholiavchenko and Samuel Stevens and Nina van Tiel and Alison Zhong and Namrata Banerji and Alec Sheets and Sowbaranika Balasubramaniam and Isla Duporge and Matthew Thompson and Elizabeth Campolongo and Jackson Miliko and Neil Rosser and Tanya Berger-Wolf and Charles V. Stewart and Daniel I. Rubenstein},
      year={2025},
      eprint={2510.02030},
      archivePrefix={arXiv},
      primaryClass={cs.CV},
      url={https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.02030}, 
}
```

```
@inproceedings{kholiavchenko2024kabr,
  title={KABR: In-Situ Dataset for Kenyan Animal Behavior Recognition from Drone Videos},
  author={Kholiavchenko, Maksim and Kline, Jenna and Ramirez, Michelle and Stevens, Sam and Sheets, Alec and Babu, Reshma and Banerji, Namrata and Campolongo, Elizabeth and Thompson, Matthew and Van Tiel, Nina and Miliko, Jackson and Bessa, Eduardo and Duporge, Isla and Berger-Wolf, Tanya and Rubenstein, Daniel and Stewart, Charles},
  booktitle={Proceedings of the IEEE/CVF Winter Conference on Applications of Computer Vision},
  pages={31-40},
  year={2024}
}
```

## Contributions
This work was supported by the [Imageomics Institute](https://imageomics.org), which is funded by the US National Science Foundation's Harnessing the Data Revolution (HDR) program under [Award #2118240](https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2118240) (Imageomics: A New Frontier of Biological Information Powered by Knowledge-Guided Machine Learning). Additional support was also provided by the [AI Institute for Intelligent Cyberinfrastructure with Computational Learning in the Environment (ICICLE)](https://icicle.osu.edu/), which is funded by the US National Science Foundation under [Award #2112606](https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2112606).

Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

The data was gathered at the [Mpala Research Centre](https://mpala.org/) in Kenya, in accordance with Research License No. NACOSTI/P/22/18214. The data collection protocol adhered strictly to the guidelines set forth by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee under permission No. IACUC 1835F.