As part of research projects, researchers often use camera traps to obtain photographs of animals in a study area. The camera traps consist of a camera connected to an infra-red beam which triggers the camera to take a photograph whenever something breaks the beam.
Camera traps can be used to help estimate the population density of a species. For example by placing camera traps at a number of locations in a study area forest then any Brown Hyena in the area will (if the camera trap sites are well chosen) walk through one or more of the camera traps and be photographed. The photographs can then be studied to identify the individual animals (Brown Hyenas have unique leg stripes for example) and the number of different individuals that have been photographed can be noted.
The use of camera traps is particularly beneficial when dealing with nocturnal or timid species that would be hard to observe or photograph normally.
Camera traps although often used to obtain photographs of a particular species, are triggered by any animal that breaks the beam and so capture images of other wildlife in the area which can also provide useful information to a researcher.
Some animals (Hyenas for example) can be quite destructive so the camera trap has to be protected with a metal cage to avoid it being damaged, but this isn't always successful, and researchers often suffer damage to the camera traps. The jackal in the photograph below was able to get in between the bars of the cage protecting the camera trap and caused damage to the cables.
Unfortunately wild animals are just that and don't always behave as expected, and instead of walking past the camera trap, choose to come and investigate it closely which results in lots of very close-up images.
© Predator Conservation Trust.
