Camera Trap

Conservation International recently put hidden cameras in seven countries - on three continents - as part of the world’s first global camera-trap study of mammals. What they got was amazing: not just 52,000 images of animals, but also critical scientific information that will help them do a better job of protecting them.

Here are the facts of the camera-trap study:

• Three continents: South America, Africa, and Asia

• Seven sites: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest (Uganda), Udzungwa Mountains National Park (Tanzania), Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (Indonesia), Nam Kading National Protected Area (Lao PDR), Central Suriname Nature Reserve (Suriname), Manaus (Brazil), Volcan Barva Transect (Costa Rica)

• 420 cameras used

• 60 cameras in each site

• 1 camera every 2 square kilometers

• Cameras were set up for a month in each place

• Time frame of data analyzed in the paper: 2008-2010

• Number of sites being monitored today: 17

You can learn more – see some of these amazing mammal photos – and check out a blog post by the study’s leader, CI’s own Dr. Jorge Ahumada.


You’ll also learn about the role that mammals play in maintaining the kind of healthy ecosystems that we all count on.