Each trail camera capture has the potential to reveal something amazing, such as finally capturing that rare species or witnessing new or unseen behaviours.
Therefore each and every picture and video clip must be reviewed and catalogued. To help researchers and conservationists overcome the issue of having so much data to analyse, innovative new platforms have been developed to ensure potentially important data collected is not overlooked whilst simultaneously inviting anyone with an interest in wildlife to take an active role in conservation.
This is where you come in. We’ve teamed up with two of the best citizen science camera trap data platforms in the UK to help us get through the vast amounts of data we collect. All you need is a computer, an internet connection, a good knowledge of wildlife species and some free time to help out!
The ZSL Instant wild programme allows you to help conservationists around the world ID species caught on camera trap and our project partnership in Croatia is lucky enough to be a part of it.
Some of the camera traps in Croatia are sending images through in real-time, so you can get to see what’s being captured on the cameras live and first hand. By helping us to go through the data collected and identifying the species recorded, it means that the researchers in Bioterra can understand more about the wildlife and ecosystems much sooner and put action plans in place a lot quicker.
Using these cameras, Bioterra and the Northern Velebit National Park have already been able to determine that they have at least 2 distinct wolf packs using the park – something that was almost impossible to find out before.
To get involved and start tagging, head to ZSL’s Instant Wild website or download the app on iOS and Android.
MammalWeb are collating camera trap images from all around Britain to help increase the knowledge base of Britains wild mammals. By collecting the large volume of data camera traps can provide, the aim is build up a picture of the abundance, distribution and risks of the UK’s mammal populations.
Our Yorkshire Pine Marten Support Programme is monitoring Yorkshire’s biodiversity (as well as searching for the elusive pine marten!) and currently has 10 camera traps collecting photograph data only which is sent to MammalWeb for help in identifying the wildlife captured.
It’s free and easy to access, just head to the MammalWeb website and click ‘Spotter’ to get started.
