05 Dec 2011: Report
Camera Traps Emerge as
Key Tool in Wildlife Research
Scientists and conservationists are increasingly relying on heat- and motion-activated camera traps to study rare or reclusive species in remote habitats. And the striking images they provide are proving to be a boon for raising conservation awareness worldwide.
The humble camera trap — an automated digital device that takes a flash photo whenever an animal triggers an infrared sensor — has been coming into its own, playing an increasingly important role in wildlife conservation.
In recent years, the use of camera traps has led to major discoveries, including documenting an Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) in China for the first time in 62 years; proving that the world’s rarest rhino, the Javan (Rhinoceros sondaicus), is breeding, by photographing a female with her calf; rediscovering the hairy-nosed otter (Lutra sumatrana) in the Malaysian state of Sabah; recording the first wolverine (Gulo gulo) in California since 1922; taking the first video of the rare Bornean bay cat (Pardofelis badia); documenting the elusive short-eared dog (Atelocynus microtis) preying on an amphibian in the Amazon; proving the extremely rare Siamese crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis) still inhabits Cambodia; and snapping the first-ever photographs of a number of species in the wild, including the Saharan cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus hecki) and the giant muntjac deer (Muntiacus vuquangensis) in Southeast Asia.
The technology has even been behind the discovery of a few new species: Both the Annamite striped rabbit (Nesolagus timminsi) of Southeast Asia and the grey-faced sengi (Rhynchocyon udzungwensis) of Tanzania, an elephant shrew, were first identified via camera trap photos. One measure of the camera trap’s rising importance was the release last February by the Smithsonian Institution of more than 200,000 camera trap photos online.
The camera trap has revolutionized wildlife research and conservation, enabling scientists to collect photographic evidence of rarely seen and often globally endangered species, with little expense, relative ease, and minimal disturbance to wildlife. Researchers are now using camera traps to document wildlife presence, abundance, and population changes, particularly in the face of deforestation and habitat destruction. And for the first time, camera traps are enabling researchers to collect baseline population data on tropical mammals and birds where only estimates — and often just guesses — were possible before.
Equally important, camera traps are increasingly being used to raise conservation awareness worldwide, with NGOs embracing the tool as a powerful way of reaching out to the public through You Tube, the Internet, and social networking sites. Groups such as WWF have found camera trap videos and photos to be an important part of campaigns to save threatened or endangered species.
In Sumatra, which has lost half of its forest cover since 1985, a conservation project called Eyes on Leuser is using camera trap videos and photos to publicize the threats to the Leuser forest’s diverse wildlife. To date the group has used camera traps to shoot video footage of 27 species, including the rare Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae), the colorful Argus pheasant (Argusianus argus), and the bright-eyed banded civet (Hemigalus derbyanus). “Until now, almost no videos existed of most of Leuser’s cryptic wildlife,” says Marten Slothouwer, a Dutch conservationist who runs Eyes on Leuser. “Our videos can make people realize that it’s worth it to save this forest.”
The first cameras to capture wildlife free from human presence were used in the late 1890s by photographic pioneer George Shiras, who employed trip wires and a flash bulb to catch animals on film; the photos were eventually published in National Geographic magazine. The first purely scientific use of camera traps was in the 1920s, when Frank M. Chapman surveyed the big species on Barro Colorado Island in Panama using a trip-wire camera trap.
But for decades, technological difficulties — including battery power, size of equipment, and unreliable trip mechanisms — left camera trapping for intrepid enthusiasts, rather than mainstream researchers. Not until the 1990s did a camera with an infrared trigger mechanism become available. Today, with the advent of digital cameras, the practice of studying wildlife through camera trapping has exploded.
Although the majority of camera trap photos are blurred or show only parts of an animal, some are on a par with the best in wildlife photography, capturing one thing that is truly difficult for photographers: a palpable sense of intimacy. More discoveries are expected as researchers undertake new and larger projects, including a study of tropical mammals in seven nations by The Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring Network, which is documenting long-term wildlife population trends in order to identify conservation priorities.
There is no tool better for finding out “what’s out there” than the camera trap. Scientists usually place camera traps on trails or at watering holes or mud wallows (spots where animals or birds often appear), but also at locations where researchers can access the camera repeatedly to download photos and change batteries. Within a few months of setting up traps, scientists begin to gain a good sense of which large and medium-sized fauna reside in the area.
“Camera trapping provides a window into a world that was previously only accessible to researchers or individuals with intimate knowledge of that species or habitat,” says Brent Loken, president of Ethical Expeditions, which uses camera traps to collect data on the mammals of the Wehea Forest in the Indonesian state of Kalimantan. The traps have proven the existence of elusive mammals, such as the banded civet (Hemigalus derbyanus) and the Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi), one of the least known big cat species in the world.
In the Pantanal, Brazil’s great wetlands, Arnaud Desbiez of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland has used camera traps to document the presence of the world’s largest armadillo (Priodontes maximus) — a rare, nocturnal species that spends much of its time underground. Using camera traps, he and his team have discovered that giant armadillo burrows play a bigger role in the ecosystem than anticipated, providing shelter to creatures such as collared peccaries.
In Africa, Ben Colleen of the Zoological Society of London and his colleagues have used camera traps to study rare pygmy hippos in West Africa’s dwindling rainforests. The species is so mysterious that researchers only took the first photo of a wild pygmy hippo in Liberia in 2008.
Also in Africa, camera traps recently set up in Gabon took the first publicly released video of the African golden cat, the least-known feline on the continent. Unlike the other cats of Africa, the golden cat only inhabits
Camera traps could be used in rainforest canopies to study birds, reptiles, and monkeys.rainforest, making it extremely difficult to spot, let alone study. University of KwaZulu-Natal graduate student Laila Bahaa-el-din captured footage of an African golden cat sitting directly in front of the camera and chasing a butterfly. On watching the videos for the first time, Bahaa-el-din says, “I felt, at last, like I was getting to know this elusive cat... The African golden cat has dominated my thoughts and energy for over a year-and-a-half now.”
Bahaa-el-din’s research is focused on understanding how the wild cat fares in pristine areas versus sustainably managed logging concessions and poorly managed logging tracts. Camera trap video footage taken in a logging concession in central Gabon that employs sound logging practices and aggressively pursues illegal hunters, indicates, says Bahaa-al-din, that “logging alone should not mean the depletion of wildlife.” The evidence from these camera traps will eventually be used to develop a conservation plan for the African golden cat, now getting its first global publicity thanks to the remote cameras.
Camera traps have some drawbacks. As Arnaud Desbiez puts it, “Camera traps are limited in space. They can only gather information in the tiny area where their sensors are positioned. Therefore animals can easily go undetected, and you need a lot of cameras to properly survey an area.”
MORE FROM YALE e360
A Revolutionary Technology is
Unlocking Secrets of the Forest
READ MORE
Still, camera trapping is now on the cusp of a new round of expansion. Camera traps could be used in rainforest canopies to study birds, reptiles, and monkeys, and underwater cameras could document marine wildlife and the fauna of lakes and rivers. With further technological advances, it may even be possible to use tiny cameras to document the world’s micro-species, from stag beetles to brush-footed butterflies.
Indeed, proponents contend, the future of camera trapping may only be limited by our imagination.
POSTED ON 05 Dec 2011 IN Biodiversity Science & Technology Science & Technology Antarctica and the Arctic
Print
Email
Recommend
Tweet
Stumble Upon
Share
ABOUT THE AUTHORJeremy Hance is a senior writer for Mongabay.com, one of the leading sites on the Web covering tropical forests and biodiversity. He is the author of Life is Good: Conservation in an Age of Mass Extinction, which will be published in January. In an earlier article for Yale e360, Hance and Rhett Butler reported on the potential environmental implications of a proposed 148,000-acre palm oil plantation in West Africa.
DIGGRELATED ARTICLES
A Defender of World’s Whales
Sees Only a Tenuous Recovery
Biologist Roger Payne played a key role in helping end the wholesale slaughter of whales. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Payne discusses the mysteries of these legendary marine mammals and the threats they continue to face.
Can Vulnerable Species
Outrun Climate Change?
Recent studies shed light on the key question of whether certain species, including slow-moving amphibians, can move swiftly enough to new territories as their old habitats warm. The challenges are formidable, especially if human-caused warming continues at such a rapid rate.
Killing Wolves: A Product of
Alberta’s Big Oil and Gas Boom
The development of the tar sands and other oil and gas fields in Alberta has carved up the Canadian province's boreal forest, threatening herds of woodland caribou. But rather than protect caribou habitat, officials have taken a controversial step: the large-scale killing of the wolves that prey on the caribou.
A Rise in Fungal Diseases is
Taking Growing Toll on Wildlife
In an increasingly interconnected world, fungal diseases are spreading at an alarming rate and have led to deadly outbreaks in amphibian, bat, and bee populations. And in the last decade, researchers note, some of the most virulent strains have infected people.
Can Wildlife Corridors
Heal Fragmented Landscapes?
Conservationists have long called for creating ecological corridors that would enable large mammals and other wildlife to roam more freely across an increasingly developed planet. But now scientists are taking a closer look at just how well these corridors are working and what role they might play in a warming world.
MORE IN Reports
As Fukushima Cleanup Begins,
Long-term Impacts are Weighed
The Japanese government is launching a large-scale cleanup of the fields, forests, and villages contaminated by the Fukushima nuclear disaster. But some experts caution that an overly aggressive remediation program could create a host of other environmental problems.
What Rising Temperatures May
Mean for World’s Wine Industry
Warming temperatures associated with climate change are already affecting vineyards from France to Chile, often in beneficial ways. But as the world continues to warm, some traditional winemaking regions are scrambling to adapt, while other areas see themselves as new wine frontiers.
Can ‘Climate-Smart’ Agriculture
Help Both Africa and the Planet?
One idea promoted at the Durban talks was “climate-smart agriculture," which could make crops less vulnerable to heat and drought and turn depleted soils into carbon sinks. The World Bank and African leaders are backing this new approach, but some critics are skeptical that it will benefit small-scale African farmers.
Sweden’s Green Veneer Hides
Unsustainable Logging Practices
Sweden has a reputation as being one of the world’s most environmentally progressive nations. But its surprisingly lax forestry laws often leave decisions about logging to the timber companies — and as a result, large swaths of biologically-rich boreal forest are being lost.
Northwest Oyster Die-offs Show
Ocean Acidification Has Arrived
The acidification of the world’s oceans from an excess of CO2 has already begun, as evidenced recently by the widespread mortality of oyster larvae in the Pacific Northwest. Scientists say this is just a harbinger of things to come if greenhouse gas emissions continue to soar.
Military Bases Provide Unlikely
Refuge For South’s Longleaf Pine
The expanses of longleaf pine forest that once covered the southeastern United States have been whittled away to just 3 percent of their original range. But as scientists are discovering, this threatened forest ecosystem has found a sanctuary in an unexpected place — U.S. military installations.
Building Retrofits: Tapping
The Energy-Saving Potential
No more cost-effective way to make major cuts in energy use and greenhouse gas emissions exists than retrofitting buildings. Now, from New York to Mumbai to Melbourne, a push is on to overhaul older buildings to make them more energy efficient.
Can Vulnerable Species
Outrun Climate Change?
Recent studies shed light on the key question of whether certain species, including slow-moving amphibians, can move swiftly enough to new territories as their old habitats warm. The challenges are formidable, especially if human-caused warming continues at such a rapid rate.
Killing Wolves: A Product of
Alberta’s Big Oil and Gas Boom
The development of the tar sands and other oil and gas fields in Alberta has carved up the Canadian province's boreal forest, threatening herds of woodland caribou. But rather than protect caribou habitat, officials have taken a controversial step: the large-scale killing of the wolves that prey on the caribou.
A Rise in Fungal Diseases is
Taking Growing Toll on Wildlife
In an increasingly interconnected world, fungal diseases are spreading at an alarming rate and have led to deadly outbreaks in amphibian, bat, and bee populations. And in the last decade, researchers note, some of the most virulent strains have infected people.
RELATED e360 DIGEST ITEMS
09 Jan 2012: Mountain Plants Disappearing
As The Climate Warms, New Study Says
06 Jan 2012: Seal Populations Plummet as
North Atlantic Sea Ice Thins, Study Says
04 Jan 2012: Parasitic Fly May Be a Factor
In Honeybee Decline, New Study Says
04 Jan 2012: Teeming Ecosystem Found
Near Vents in Southern Ocean
03 Jan 2012: Return of Wolves Has Helped
Ecosystem Recovery in Yellowstone Park
29 Dec 2011: New Innovation System
Urged for Developing Renewable Energy
27 Dec 2011: From NASA Satellites: The Year in Images
22 Dec 2011: The Top Ten Trends
In Clean Technology for 2011
22 Dec 2011: Ocean Acidification Varies
Widely Across Globe, New Study Shows
21 Dec 2011: Video Footage Shows Success
Of Thailand's Anti-Poaching Fight
Yale Environment 360 is
a publication of the
Yale School of Forestry
& Environmental Studies.
SEARCH e360
CONNECT
Twitter: YaleE360e360 on Facebook
Donate to e360
View mobile site
Bookmark
Share e360
Email newsletter
Subscribe to our feed:
ABOUT
About e360Contact
Submission Guidelines
Reprints
DEPARTMENTS
OpinionReports
Analysis
Interviews
e360 Digest
Video Reports
TOPICS
BiodiversityBusiness & Innovation
Climate
Energy
Forests
Oceans
Policy & Politics
Pollution & Health
Science & Technology
Sustainability
Urbanization
Water
REGIONS
Antarctica and the ArcticAfrica
Asia
Australia
Central & South America
Europe
Middle East
North America
e360 VIDEO REPORT
As temperatures rise and water supplies dry up, tribes in East Africa increasingly are coming into conflict. A Yale Environment 360 video reports on a phenomenon that could become more common: how worsening drought will pit groups — and nations — against one another. Watch the video.
e360 MOBILE
from Yale
Environment 360 is now available for mobile devices at e360.yale.edu/mobile.
e360 VIDEO
The Warriors of Qiugang, a Yale Environment 360 video that chronicles the story of a Chinese village’s fight against a polluting chemical plant, was nominated for a 2011 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). Watch the trailer.
Top Image: aerial view of Iceland. © Google & TerraMetrics.
e360 VIDEO REPORT
Leveling Appalachia: The Legacy of Mountaintop Removal Mining, an e360 video examining the environmental and human impacts of this mining practice, won the award for best video in the 2010 National Magazine Awards for Digital Media. Watch the video.
OF INTEREST
RESOURCES
COMMENTS
Camera trap use for research has been on the rise in the US as well as the more exotic locales
mentioned in this article. Here, camera traps often provide important presence information on
endangered or troubled species that are increasingly coming into contact (or conflict) with
humans and development.
I am currently working on a project at the University of Vermont that is using camera traps
to detect carnivores in forest fragments in the Champlain Valley (the most developed and
populated area of the state). Our hope is to reach some conclusions about what types of
forest fragments (the little islands of core habitat that remain for carnivores within the larger
landscape matrix of agricultural, residential and urban development) carnivores like to use in our state so that we better manage these forests.
I had a Wyoming biologist tell me about a study they were doing about the decline in a ground nesting bird- I think the sage grouse. Setting up cameras around the nest sites they videoed a herd of elk eating every single egg. He commented that had a biologist without video ever come back to the office and claimed to have eye-witnessed the event - they would have been laughed out of the building.
Video seems a great tool for "proving" what we know can't be true- or if you will- a crutch for those averse to laughter.
Good luck with your research and wishing you much "imagination" using video to increase our
understanding.
I currently use trail cameras to study gopher tortoises and their burrow commensals in Florida. The pictures and videos I get are really insightful. It's my hope though that these cameras will soon be designed with the goal of using them for research, not hunting, and thus will be more user friendly for this use, and not their intended use. These cameras are a great tool and hopefully will be more widely used in the future.
POST A COMMENT
Comments are moderated and will be reviewed before they are posted to ensure they are on topic, relevant, and not abusive. They may be edited for length and clarity. By filling out this form, you give Yale Environment 360 permission to publish this comment.