Check out my pink spot (Image: Michael Patrick O'Neil/NHPA)

LEOPARDS can’t change their spots – and tigers, zebras and whale sharks can’t change their stripes. This just as well since they can be used to identify individual animals from pictures or video instead of conventional identity bands and radio tags.

It is more effective to track animals by such “fingerprints” since they don’t have to be caught and sedated, which is stressful.

To monitor the population and movement of leatherback sea turtles, marine biologists normally use plastic “cattle tags”, which contain a unique identity number. These often fall off, says Scott …