First pictures

I have now completed my pilot camera trapping period and have started the survey proper. Here are a couple of nice pictures I got in the first ten days during the pilot.

Spy in the camp

I am now starting, what for me, is potentially the most exciting part of my research - camera trapping. Studying predators can be incredibly frustrating as they tend to occur at low densities, are secretive and generally either nocturnal or crepuscular. All of these things make them very difficult to see! However, the advances in digital camera technology have made the use of remote cameras increasingly useful as a tool to gain information on population density and abundance. It also provides a window into the world of the predator that only a few years ago would not have been available. By setting motion sensitive cameras on a farm in my study area I can get a picture of the variety of different species that are using that land and in what numbers they exist, how many have young with them and what their movement patterns are.
For caracal in Botswana this is very exciting as there has been no research done on this species here. However, having the cameras out on the farm means that, although I am primarily interested in caracal, I can gather data on all the other predator species too.

Am looking forward to seeing what turns up!