WILDLABS
That's a wrap on our eighth annual #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge!
All this week, you've shared your conservation tech projects with us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, and it has been a privilege to see the innovative spirit, ingenuity, and dedication of this community. Over the course of five days, we saw every conceivable type of technology in action, from AI, camera traps, and GPS collars to data analytics software, drones, sensors, and much more!
The goal of our #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge is to celebrate our community and all the outstanding work you do - but just as importantly, our annual photo challenge is a chance to show the world why conservation technology matters, and how it can transform the way we protect our natural world. This year's challenge wrapped on World Nature Conservation Day, and we're proud that our community can so clearly demonstrate how technology is transforming this field for the better.
For other conservation tech users and makers, the challenge is an opportunity to see what's happening throughout other corners of the field and discover new projects and possibilities. But for many others outside of our community, our photo challenge may reveal to them to conservation technology's wide-reaching impacts for the first time. The stories shared by our community this year have been exceptional in scope and in the impact which they demonstrate, and we can't wait to help those stories reach even more people around the world as this challenge ends and we begin looking forward to showcasing your projects in new ways, and for wider audiences.
Below, you'll find highlights from Day 5 of our #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge. And stay tuned to WILDLABS for information on how you can vote for our first-ever Community Choice Award, and to see our top honorees for 2023!
Here are today's Twitter highlights:
Tiny backpacks designed to simultaneously conserve 2 endangered Hawaiian birds: the definition of #Tech4Wildlife. The trackers are helping us better understand ‘io and aid in the future reintroduction of ‘alalā, their natural prey, back to native forests. https://t.co/nOVZorBFsP pic.twitter.com/gUEsB5NOoG
— San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (@sandiegozoo) July 28, 2023
1. Last week we translocated 4 critically endangered #kakapo back to mainland NZ - the first time in living memory. One way we’ll keep a close eye on them is through their smart transmitters connected to a data network - as on other kākāpō islands. #Tech4Wildlife #conservation pic.twitter.com/TJU93weVkA
— Dr Andrew Digby (@takapodigs) July 28, 2023
5. Finally, we’ll also use GPS tags to track #kakapo at Maungatautari. These won’t give us “live” locations, but after capture will show home ranges and movements following release - all useful in determining the suitability of this new site. #Tech4Wildlife #conservation #parrots pic.twitter.com/oXreZQ2MK4
— Dr Andrew Digby (@takapodigs) July 28, 2023
#Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge
— Iguanas from Above (@IguanasAbove) July 28, 2023
We are using #drones to monitor endangered Galápagos #marineiguanas. Several colonies where they live have been impossible to access with traditional ground-based methods. Now, #technology is helping us to survey their entire distribution range 🦎 pic.twitter.com/Z2r2E53mey
So far our loggers are being used on animals big and small - including disease transmission experiments in rodents and movement behaviour in Natterjack toads as well as studies involving sea lions, ground squirrels, crabs and even humans! #tech4wildlife pic.twitter.com/fnCiKDdg1k
— Dr. Luci Kirkpatrick (@LuciKirkpatrick) July 28, 2023
Here's a photo from one of our recent test flights in @OlPejeta - can you spot the elephants? #Tech4Wildlife #Conservationtechnology pic.twitter.com/pvbLrvd0aN
— WildDrone (@WildDrone_EU) July 28, 2023
For @WILDLABSNET #Tech4Wildlife week this year we wanted to tell you a little more about ⚡️The whys of the BearID Project⚡️ Why do the whys matter? Tech4Wildlife that is rooted in solving real-world problems holds the most potential for application to conservation.1/n pic.twitter.com/1JdYWOra6J
— BearID Project (@bearid_project) July 28, 2023
Our project is developed by two #WomenInSTEM who seek to promote conservation work. This is a result of a collaboration between institutions from #Ecuador and #Germany: University of Leipzig, Galapagos Science Center, Galapagos National Park.#Tech4Wildlife @CientificasEC pic.twitter.com/dvLb8c1QYV
— Iguanas from Above (@IguanasAbove) July 28, 2023
TMA has a long history of using #Tech4Wildlife, and we pride ourselves on staying on top of the newest and most powerful technological advancements in the fields of #wildlife, #research and #conservation. Today we share an example of our tech for @WILDLABSNET's photo challenge: pic.twitter.com/tHxzfsuLsl
— TMA - Third Millennium Alliance (@tma_earth) July 28, 2023
Nocturnal observations use a lot of #Tech4Wildlife climbing in the dark then spotting wildlife with thermals before switching to night vision binox seen in the previous post. #atneurope @CocoboloNature pic.twitter.com/K2QrwA6xrt
— lucy hughes (@lucy_lucycawte) July 28, 2023
#Tech4Wildlife photo challenge, D5! 📍🇧🇷
— Icas - Wild Animal Conservation Institute (@IcasWild) July 28, 2023
Thanks to camera traps installed in the Atlantic Forest, our researchers could identified 40 individuals of #GiantArmadillo
😟They could be the last viable population of the species in that biome 1/3🧶@WILDLABSNET
📸 @ReconyxInc pic.twitter.com/FcHX5QQoce
Here's a video of just the #AI part with a fun soundtrack #Tech4Wildlife pic.twitter.com/IehW3UEzm8
— Roland Kays (@RolandKays) July 28, 2023
Diving into the #Tech4Wildlife challenge with this video. We are exploring the possibilities of using ROVs to know more about hard-to-access mesophotic reef habitats.#TheHabitatsTrust #TechnologyForConservation pic.twitter.com/iT7a4D2k51
— The Habitats Trust (@HabitatsTrust) July 28, 2023
The data I've worked the most with has been from collars. These provide a great range of data for #Tech4Wildlife . Here is an example of one release mechanism. Fabric! This collar released after 1 year of rough wear and tear. Collar funding from @WILDLABSNET and @BrunBear1! pic.twitter.com/vNs3dDendd
— Alyssa Bohart (@AMBohart) July 28, 2023
The water was cold that day my friends… Tracking Bellinger River Snapping Turtles #SavingOurSpecies #Tech4Wildlife pic.twitter.com/raJ4560Fwd
— Daniel Cain (@foolforaclient) July 28, 2023
An ultra-affordable #Tech4Wildlife setup. Self-build @Raspberry_Pi powered time-expanding bat detector (£20), speaker (£25) (even cheaper, a £5.99 10m aux cable to the living room stereo) for long evenings of listening pleasure as the bats fly around the garden. @WILDLABSNET pic.twitter.com/1PGjcQ7GAQ
— Phil Atkin (@RamonesKaraoke) July 28, 2023
#Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge!
— 3Diversity (@3Diversity_ec) July 28, 2023
Fostering biodiversity Research! We are creating #OpenAccess #3Dmodels of amphibian and reptile museum specimens of @Bioweb Ecuador using #photogrammetry, so that everyone can interact with them without the risk of damaging the original specimen. pic.twitter.com/vG28TrKiLJ
Using collar data and Google Earth, we can visualize movements! Orange is a female human-habituated bear and blue is a male non-habituated bear. The valley she spends her time in is full of campgrounds, day-use areas, and hiking trails. The Highwood Pass is less developed... 🧵 pic.twitter.com/0BllTJeROi
— Alyssa Bohart (@AMBohart) July 28, 2023
Last day of WILDLABSNET's #Tech4Wildlife photo challenge! 🐦🦋🌍 And WORLD #NATURE #CONSERVATION DAY!
— Rainforest Connection (@RainforestCx) July 28, 2023
We have an impact on the natural world around us, and we have to take responsibility for that impact. So join us in #connecting with the great outdoors #usingtechtoprotect and… pic.twitter.com/IyYIutZJSz
Here are today's Instagram highlights:
24 likes, 2 comments - wildlifeactinno on July 28, 2023: "Celebrating World Conservation Day, we would like to express gratitude for the work we do. Photographed here meet CM28, one of the many cheetah we have had the privilege of tracking and monitoring over the years. We are able to deploy and utilise GPS Satellite or LoRa tracking technology to monitor endangered species across Southern Africa. An important initiative and thank you to all our collaborators, as we continue to work together for wildlife conservation. Photography credit priority species monitor @corrie.van.greune @manyoniprivategamereserve @loveafricamarketing @wildlife_act @somkhandagamereserve @ezemvelokznwildlife @babanango_game_reserve @wwfblackrhinoproject @wwfsouthafrica @the_ewt @hluhluwewildlife @africanwildlifevets @wildlabsnet @nambitireserve @iridiumcomm #Tech4Wildlife #wildlife #tracking #satellite #GPS #trackingcollars #VHF #conservation #wildlifemonitoring #SouthAfrica #WildlifeActInnovations #animals #nature #natureconservation #data #research #WorldConservationDay".
2,023 likes, 8 comments - savetheelephants on July 28, 2023: "Have you heard of STE’s Elephants and Bees Project? 🐘🐝 It all started with field experiments like this in 2008 where our Head of Human-Elephant Coexistence, Dr Lucy King, played #tech generated bee sounds to wild elephant herds. This research led to the adoption of beehive fences as elephant deterrents that protect farms from elephant crop raids. To date, over 11,000 STE elephant deterrent beehives have been deployed worldwide across 90 sites in 23 countries. 🎥 @lucyeking99 / Save the Elephants #Tech4Wildlife".
201 likes, 32 comments - roguedetectionteams on July 28, 2023: "🇨🇦 Rogues is going INTERNATIONAL! Can you guess the species 👀👉🏾 👋🏾 Sure, it's *just* to our friendly neighbors in Canada! But it counts! Any project with our detection dogs, but most especially international work, involves A LOT of behind-the-scenes preparation... ❓Travel restrictions with dogs? ❓Dog quarantines? ❓Special vaccinations? ❓Work visas? ❓Permits to survey in protected environments? ❓If we are flying, what airlines are safest? (*whenever "pawsible," we preference road transport) 🌍 DYK: our detection teams have traveled the globe for our work, everywhere from: 🇲🇿 Africa (Mozambique & S. Africa) 🇧🇷 Brazil 🇰🇭 Cambodia 🇬🇷 Greece 🇫🇷 France 🇲🇽 Mexico 🇳🇵 Nepal 🇪🇸 Spain 🇹🇷 Turkey 🇻🇳 & Vietnam, just to name a few! ✈️ While we love to travel, this work is not about that. It's for the wildlife & it's always been our wish that this method would gain traction with researchers, expand, & become a local resource! 🤔 So why are we going to Canada? Aren't there teams there? ☣️ Yes! But they are specialized in biosecurity! 🍁 We are returning to work on a species we have conducted surveys for previously... 👉🏾 Alces alces, or moose! "Moose inhabit boreal forests & mixed forests of the Northern Hemisphere in temperate to subarctic climates. Hunting & other human activities have caused a reduction in the size of the moose's range. Currently, most moose occur in Canada, Alaska, New England, Fennoscandia, the Baltic states, Poland, Kazakhstan, & Russia." 💦 And fun fact: "Moose are the only deer that are capable of feeding underwater. Their nose is equipped with muscles that close the nostrils when exposed to water pressure, preventing water from entering the nose."-@wikipedia ⚠️This is actually one of the most dangerous wildlife to detection dogs (more so than wolves, cougars, or bears, oh my!) & because of our previous work with this species, we have experience in our toolbox to keep our dogs safe while we sniff for the brown gold! 🍟Stay tuned as we *attempt to share updates on our journey into the north country (wifi permitting). Poutine here we come! #Tech4Wildlife #International".
27 likes, 0 comments - wilddrone.eu on July 28, 2023: "In collaboration with drone operators from @olpejeta we conducted test flights with different kinds of drones in the conservancy. We put emphasis on experimenting with fixed-wing drones, due to their potential for monitoring large areas with minimal noise impact. We followed a pattern of incrementally increasing the complexity of our drone operations, initially operating close to our camp, then gradually moving towards more complex environments. For this trip, our goal has been to produce a video about our #WildDroneEU network. Later trips will be devoted to addressing specific research questions. The animals in the photos captured by the drones are elephants and buffalos. #tech4wildlife #conservationtechnology #conservation".
6 likes, 0 comments - cocobolonature on July 28, 2023: "Day 5. Nocturnal observations use a lot of #Tech4Wildlife climbing in the dark then spotting wildlife with thermals to spot animals like this tamandua. We then switch to nightvision as seen in the previous post to apreciate the detail. #atneurope".
And here are a couple of the latest posts from LinkedIn:
Thank you to everyone who participated in our #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge this year! Stay tuned for our Community Choice Awards and our Top Honorees list, soon to be shared right here on WILDLABS.
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Join the #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge: July 24th-28th
WILDLABS Team
Join our annual #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge from July 24-28 to share your best photos and videos with conservation tech users, makers, and supporters from around the world.
7 July 2023
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