Camera traps have been a key part of the conservation toolkit for decades. Remotely triggered video or still cameras allow researchers and managers to monitor cryptic species, survey populations, and support enforcement responses by documenting illegal activities. Increasingly, machine learning is being implemented to automate the processing of data generated by camera traps.
A recent study published showed that, despite being well-established and widely used tools in conservation, progress in the development of camera traps has plateaued since the emergence of the modern model in the mid-2000s, leaving users struggling with many of the same issues they faced a decade ago. That manufacturer ratings have not improved over time, despite technological advancements, demonstrates the need for a new generation of innovative conservation camera traps. Join this group and explore existing efforts, established needs, and what next-generation camera traps might look like - including the integration of AI for data processing through initiatives like Wildlife Insights and Wild Me.
Group Highlights:
Our past Tech Tutors seasons featured multiple episodes for experienced and new camera trappers. How Do I Repair My Camera Traps? featured WILDLABS members Laure Joanny, Alistair Stewart, and Rob Appleby and featured many troubleshooting and DIY resources for common issues.
For camera trap users looking to incorporate machine learning into the data analysis process, Sara Beery's How do I get started using machine learning for my camera traps? is an incredible resource discussing the user-friendly tool MegaDetector.
And for those who are new to camera trapping, Marcella Kelly's How do I choose the right camera trap(s) based on interests, goals, and species? will help you make important decisions based on factors like species, environment, power, durability, and more.
Finally, for an in-depth conversation on camera trap hardware and software, check out the Camera Traps Virtual Meetup featuring Sara Beery, Roland Kays, and Sam Seccombe.
And while you're here, be sure to stop by the camera trap community's collaborative troubleshooting data bank, where we're compiling common problems with the goal of creating a consistent place to exchange tips and tricks!
Header photo: ACEAA-Conservacion Amazonica
Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology
Undertake and develop biodiversity monitoring
- 0 Resources
- 8 Discussions
- 4 Groups
Zoological Society London (ZSL)
Technical Project Manager in ZSL's Conservation Technology Unit
- 0 Resources
- 26 Discussions
- 6 Groups
- @APendael
- | Mr.
Amos Pendael is a renowned conservation and research specialist with extensive experience in the field of Management Oriented Monitoring Skills (MOMS), remote sensing, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). With a M.Sc in Natural Resources Assessment and Management.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 6 Groups
- @Netty_Cheruto
- | She/her
- 23 Resources
- 49 Discussions
- 8 Groups
- @jcbotsch
- | he/him
I'm a population and community ecologist studying the effects of global change on insect populations.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 6 Groups
Natural Solutions
Engineer, Ph.D in Computation Ecology. Interested in developing tools for the massive acquisition of high dimensional data from new technologies (e.g., imaging, omics), their analysis and visualization.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 13 Groups
- @Gody
- | He
Godfrey Nyangaresi, a dedicated Protection Manager with 12+ years of wildlife conservation experience. Skilled in technologies, administration, and law enforcement, he leads protection efforts at STEP, ensuring the sustainable conservation of elephants in southern Tanzania.
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 17 Groups
- @Mathilde
- | she/her
Natural Solutions
Engineer, I work for a web development company on web application projects for biodiversity conservation. I'm especially interested by camera traps, teledetection and DeepLearning subjects.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 11 Groups
- @SueWachia
- | she/her
A marine environmentalist with diverse experience in collaborating on multidisciplinary & community-centred marine research focused on: fisheries management, blue carbon strategies, seagrass ecosystems, & ocean literacy.
- 1 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 7 Groups
Masters student at University of Jena/ Assistant in LEPMON Project at Dr. Gunnar Brehms Lab
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 1 Groups
- @ptynecki
- | Piotr
Software Engineer with 10+ years of experience in application design, development, testing and deployment. Highly experienced in Health Care, Life Science and BigData projects. Artificial Intelligence researcher (NLP, Computer Vision) with experience in Wildlife Conservation.
- 0 Resources
- 5 Discussions
- 4 Groups
- @taruuppal
- | She/Her
Grant researcher and writer
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 1 Groups
Article
You’re invited to the WILDLABS Variety Hour, a monthly event that connects you to conservation tech's most exciting projects, research, and ideas. We can't wait to bring you a whole new season of speakers and...
22 March 2024
The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (SNZCBI) is seeking two postdoctoral fellows to engage more directly with identifying conservation metrics for vertebrate communities and populations.
14 March 2024
Catch up on the conservation tech discussions and events that happened during World Wildlife Day 2024!
7 March 2024
EcoAssist introduces a free African species identification model for camera trap images, capable of recognising 30 species.
5 March 2024
The primary focus of the research is to explore how red deer movements, space use, habitat selection and foraging behaviour change during the wolf recolonization process.
10 February 2024
Article
An update on @Alasdair and @adanger24's HWC project
11 January 2024
The Conservation Technology Laboratory within the Population Sustainability department is seeking two fellows for summer 2024.
9 January 2024
Outstanding chance for a motivated and ambitious individual to enhance their current project support skills by engaging with a diverse array of exciting projects in the field of biodiversity science.
11 December 2023
Article
Read our interview with Clementine Uwamahoro, African Parks’ Country Manager in Conservation Technology overlooking technology operations for both Akagera National Park and Nyungwe National Park.
29 November 2023
TagRanger® is a state-of-the-art wildlife finding, monitoring and tracking solution for research, conservation and environmental professionals. With superior configurability for logging data, reporting location and...
23 November 2023
Lisanne Petracca is hiring TWO technicians within the SPEC Lab Ocelot Research Program to start January 17, 2024.
16 November 2023
With the rising threats to biodiversity such as wildlife crime, climate change and human-wildlife conflict today, wildlife monitoring technologies have become vital to study movement ecology, behaviour patterns, changes...
25 October 2023
April 2024
event
October 2024
April 2023
February 2023
Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ah, okay that is helpful. Great question. I'm not sure the current status of camelot - @cshclm @heidi_h, maybe you could provide an update? The two projects that came to... |
|
Camera Traps | 21 hours 29 minutes ago | |
Hello everyone, I'm interested in gathering insights on how the behavior of different species impacts the development and efficacy of... |
|
Biologging, Acoustics, Camera Traps, eDNA & Genomics, Emerging Tech, Marine Conservation | 5 days 13 hours ago | |
Hi @lucianofoglia Thanks for sharing your thoughts with the community. What you've touched on resonates with a number of users and developers (looking at you @Rob_Appleby)... |
|
Emerging Tech, Camera Traps, Conservation Tech Training and Education | 5 days 23 hours ago | |
Hi Andrew! Great to hear your friend, Scott working in Indonesia! I bet he is working on east region with lot of cool monitor lizards!I use Mavic 2 as well for my crocodile... |
|
Camera Traps | 4 weeks ago | |
This is great, thank you so much @zhongqimiao ! I will check it out and looking forward for the upcoming tutorial! |
|
AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Open Source Solutions | 1 month ago | |
Ah yes. I didn’t notice that. Indeed it’s “near infrared”, 850nm lighting. |
|
Camera Traps, Marine Conservation | 1 month ago | |
I've used AA rechargeable almost exclusively for many years now. I try to get rechargeables sourced from Japan (Panasonic Eneloop and Fujitsu), but have also used Eveready ... |
+18
|
Camera Traps | 1 month ago | |
Thanks for the link, Amanda. The price of $900 is a bit too steep for me, but at least I now know a bit better what you meant with a power analyser.I can't remember either what I... |
|
Camera Traps | 1 month 1 week ago | |
Perfect thanks! I am still a novice using Python but my wife can help me! |
+6
|
AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Human-Wildlife Conflict | 1 month 1 week ago | |
This is a great starting point - thanks for the help |
|
Camera Traps | 1 month 2 weeks ago | |
Hi Amit,The most important thing is that the livestock owners contact you as soon as possible after finding the carcass. We commonly do two things if they contact us on the same... |
|
Camera Traps, AI for Conservation, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Early Career, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Protected Area Management Tools | 1 month 3 weeks ago | |
Hi Danilo. you seem very passionate about this initiative which is a good start.It is an interesting coincidence that I am starting another project for the coral reefs in the... |
|
Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Biologging, Camera Traps, Citizen Science, Climate Change, Community Base, Connectivity, Drones, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Open Source Solutions, Sensors, Software and Mobile Apps, Wildlife Crime | 1 month 3 weeks ago |
COVID Cameratrap Comparison Collaboration: Call for Data
25 September 2020 5:35pm
Model Question: Bushnell Trophy Cam HD Low-Glow 119719CW
27 August 2020 5:18am
2 September 2020 3:17am
Hi Juan,
Thank you for your reply. Finger cross that the model we are buying can operate in hybrid mode. We currently use Trophy Cam Agressor 119776 and 119774, and both can shoot in hybrid mode. I can actually find a manual for these two models to confirm this functionality.
And good to know about the delay. We've been quite lucky thus far with the two models above. Typically, I notice the lag hovers around 1 sec only.
Have a nice day!
Best wishes,
22 September 2020 12:06pm
Just in case anyone out there who's wondering the same as I did. I finally have this specific model in hand, and no it doesn't record in hybrid mode.
Webinar: Advances in Fisheries Electronic Monitoring
21 September 2020 12:00am
Meet the Scientists of Black Mammalogists Week!
10 September 2020 12:00am
Tech Tutors: Review Session
3 September 2020 12:00am
Stereoscopic Camera Project
24 August 2020 1:02pm
24 August 2020 1:21pm
Should have posted this up first, but here's an earlier case prototype that I quickly put together to test its durability outside in the elements. It worked quite well, even when raining. Always save your old compost bags, very useful for waterproofing things (unless they have those tiny holes in!)
28 August 2020 3:43pm
This is awesome, Tom! I think it would definitely be really helpful for individual identification of animals, as the 3D would give you a better perspective on distinctive markings, coloration, size, etc.
29 August 2020 12:25am
Thanks Carly! I was thinking similar things, you can identify shape a lot better when you see an object with depth rather than without.
The two cameras can be configured to be a long distance apart or closer together too which means animals right up close or really far away can be identified easier. It also means that you can have the vision of a mouse or an elephant .. or a lemur!
Designing a Camera Mount with FLIR and WWF
24 August 2020 12:00am
Laure Joanny Reviews: Tech Tutors' How Do I Repair My Camera Traps?
20 August 2020 12:00am
7 October 2022 6:13pm
Metal Detecting Sensors for Anti-Poaching
10 August 2020 12:00am
Model Question: CT Detection angle and Field of View
24 June 2020 3:50pm
31 July 2020 10:49am
Hi Hana,
https://www.trailcampro.com/pages/trail-camera-detection-field-of-view-angle
https://www.trailcampro.com/pages/how-why-we-test-trail-cameras
Trailcamerpro.com have the above details. They measure field of view with a ruler at a set distance and some maths. Detection angle is harder and one way is to do a slow walk test, a foot every 20 seconds, across the cameras view and work out where the camera first captures images and then map this back to the field of view.
Hope this helps,
Sam
31 July 2020 5:17pm
Hi Hana, I know for Bushnell the manual has the FOV, it should be 50 degrees for yours. All the manuals are online so you just have to find your model. https://www.bushnell.com/bu-manuals.html
As for the detection radius I agree with looking at trailcampro, to see if they've tested your model.
4 August 2020 9:55am
Fig 2 here; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/aje.12573 might help for the Bushnell. I haven't tested Stealthcams.
There is more here; https://www.researchgate.net/project/A-realistic-reproducible-and-rigorous-test-for-wildlife-camera-trap-performance
Event: StreamingScience's #Tech4Wildlife Thursdays
3 August 2020 12:00am
Tracking Wild Reptiles, Amphibians, And Their Temperatures
31 July 2020 12:00am
15 September 2023 11:02pm
16 October 2023 4:07pm
Automated Fish Identification and Abundance Using Artificial Intelligence
28 July 2020 12:00am
BearID To Go
21 July 2020 12:00am
How do I build bespoke conservation technology?
20 July 2020 12:00am
How do I repair my camera traps?
13 July 2020 12:00am
Tech Tutors: How do I get started using ML for my camera traps? Building Accurate Project-Specific Models
25 June 2020 12:02am
25 June 2020 6:01pm
26 June 2020 2:32pm
Hi everyone!
We've now posted Sara's session to our youtube channel, and I've also popped it up the top of this thread.
The collaborative notes worked really well! I've now updated them to capture what happened in the chat - it should be a helpful companion to go alongside the recording. The notes have links, projects, and key discussions we saw in the chat, and summarise the questions Sara coverd in the discussion as well as the Qs we weren't able to get to (40mins overtime was our limit!). If your question was one of the outstanding ones and you'd like to have it answered, please drop it in the discussion below.
The notes now also have the participant check ins (such an awesome range of places, projects and interests!) - I'm sharing these as seeing what other people are doing might help you connect with each other. If you see someone you want to connect with, try and find them using our member direcyour people tab. If you can't, email Ellie and she will see if that person is happy to hear from you before connecting you.
Reminder, registration is open for Carlos' tutorial next week: How do I perform automated recordings of bird assemblages? Register here.
Thanks everyone!
Steph
2 July 2020 8:58pm
Great talk! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Some high schoolers have done small AI projects(s) and have interest in the wildlife.
What resources would you all suggest to further develop high schooler’s interest in AI?
Era of the Condor: A Species' Future in Recovery (Part 3)
2 July 2020 12:00am
Era of the Condor: A Species' Future in Recovery (Part 2)
25 June 2020 12:00am
Seeking feedback: draft principles for responsible use of conservation surveillance technology
9 June 2020 6:22pm
From Autonomous Cars to Aqualink: Developing a Reef Monitoring System
9 June 2020 12:00am
How do I get started using Machine Learning for my camera traps?
9 June 2020 12:00am
Event: Arm’s AI Virtual Tech Sessions
9 June 2020 12:00am
Repairing Camera Traps
28 November 2019 11:20am
14 December 2019 8:50pm
Hi Rob, Dave and all,
So glad to see and join an active conversation on this. I am not directly using camera traps in my work but the lifetime of conservation technologies is something I have been thinking about and I am keen to get involved in finding solutions.
Could a Google spreadsheet like this one help identify those who are interested and the extent of the problem/most common issues ? If there is interest in participating, events on the Restart Project model Alasdair mentioned would be great places to get a sense of the most common faults and potentially create tutorials for those Level 1 repairs.
14 December 2019 8:59pm
Hi Laure,
Firstly, a great article and a big part of the inspiration behind the idea to reuse, repair and 'upcycle' devices like camera traps. Thanks so much for the links also. The Google Sheet is a great idea and thanks for building it! I recently posted a Twitter poll to find out the most common cameras being used so we can make sure to cover their assessment. And the Restart Project looks amazing! I love it. I've fallen a bit behind with a couple of other things, but looking forward to getting back to the broken camera hacks soon.
Cheers,
Rob
8 June 2020 5:47pm
Hi everyone,
I am resurrecting this thread as WILDLABS is currently planning an online tutorial on camera trap repairs in the field on 23rd July at 11 AM ET on which I'll be co-presenting. Do join then if the topic is still of interest! Also, if you've got repair tips you'd be willing to share on this webinar, possibly as a short step by step video, please get in touch.
Diagnosing the cause of malfunctions is a recurring theme on this thread but are there other issues you would like to learn more about or malfunctions you encounter regularly? I created this spreadsheet a while back to get an idea of what the most common camera models and failures were. if you are interested and have a couple minutes, could you contribute to it? It would really help make the tutorial webinar as focused and relevant as possible and maybe create more tutorials and ressources at a later stage.
Announcing the 2020 CLP Team Award Winners
8 June 2020 12:00am
Innovator Interview: Hack the Poacher
4 June 2020 12:00am
Competition: 2020 Hackaday Prize
26 May 2020 12:00am
Free underwater camera units
10 January 2020 10:06pm
19 May 2020 11:23am
Is this offer still open
WILDLABS Tech Tutors: Season One
19 May 2020 12:00am
Era of the Condor: A Species' Future in Recovery
5 May 2020 12:00am
31 August 2020 12:43am
Hi
I don´t know about that specific model number, but all "modern" Bushnell's I've seen had that option. But have in mind that after the picture the camera needs some time to start the video, sometimes up to 9 seconds, which for many animals might be excesive. In my case working with carnivores in the high Andes, we missed most of the videos.
Maybe they improve on this, the experience I'm mentioning was with a model bought two years ago named Bushnell Trophy Cam Aggressor (Low-Glow), 36 LEDs 14MP (I don't know the model number).
I hope it helps.
Bests