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
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With 20 years' experience as a Conservation Practitioner, I've transitioned from carnivore scientist to Dean, nurturing African conservation leaders. My focus now is on leveraging innovative Web 3.0 technologies for maximum conservation impact.
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To assist with creative research project in the DC/VA/MD region
6 January 2023
The University of Alaska Fairbanks is seeking a research Post Doctoral Fellow to work in collaboration with the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The position will focus on using Machine...
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First known baited underwater video match of an individual white shark, based on facial scars and other unique features White shark undertakes 1,100-mile (1800-km) transboundary swim from South Africa to Mozambique
25 October 2022
Five articles that include conservation tech published at Mongabay
20 October 2022
*New closing date!* WILDLABS and Fauna & Flora International are seeking an early career conservationist for 12-month paid internship position to grow and support the Southeast Asia regional community in our global...
19 October 2022
The device could help scientists explore unknown regions of the ocean, track pollution, or monitor the effects of climate change.
26 September 2022
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The Senior Conservation Technology Specialist will be responsible for providing technical advice and capacity development to GWP project teams on conservation technology, distilling challenges and lessons from project...
22 September 2022
The European Biodiversity Partnership Biodiversa+, co-funded by the European Union, has launched a call for research proposals on “Improved transnational monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem change for science and...
14 September 2022
At the Inria Sophia Antipolis - Méditerranée center. The project will pursue two different methodological goals: (1) explore the use of natural language bottlenecks describing visible traits or other visual...
1 September 2022
Boost cons tech capacity at an international NGO! Fauna & Flora International is offering a paid three-month internship to consolidate and share best practices for the application of emerging hardware and software...
26 August 2022
The Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Environmental Studies (WFE), SLU, Umeå, is looking for a postdoc with strong interests in wildlife conservation technology.
26 August 2022
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Job opening at ARISE, an innovative program in the Netherlands to build a digital infrastructure for biodiversity data and services
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Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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Clarifying: MD handles video only in the sense that you're suggesting, i.e. MegaDetector only knows about individual images, but there is supporting code to split videos into... |
+25
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Camera Traps | 1 day 5 hours ago | |
Hi AlexThank you so much for the imput 🙏 |
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Camera Traps | 4 days 4 hours ago | |
Depending on how much drift there is it may be a fixed offset caused by the timer not restarting until you have finished puttin gin al the settings. You set the time, then do all... |
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Camera Traps | 1 week ago | |
Thank you for elaborating, @evebohnett ! And for the heads ups! |
+22
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Camera Traps, Drones | 1 month ago | |
[oops, the same reply got submitted twice and there doesn't seem to be a "delete" button] |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps | 1 month 2 weeks ago | |
Hi @zhongqimiao ,Might you have faced such an issue while using mega detectorThe conflict is caused by:pytorchwildlife 1.0.2.13 depends on torch==1.10.1pytorchwildlife 1.0.2.12... |
+6
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Open Source Solutions | 1 month 1 week ago | |
Thanks, and that's a match! All these pictures are from a lab experiment and formated with AmphIdent. We took weekly belly pictures of several larvae. The aim of this google... |
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Camera Traps, Data management and processing tools, Software and Mobile Apps | 1 month 2 weeks ago | |
Hi, this is pretty interesting to me. I plan to fly a drone over wild areas and look for invasive species incursions. So feral hogs are especially bad, but in the Everglades there... |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Open Source Solutions, Software and Mobile Apps | 1 month 2 weeks ago | |
Hi everyone!@LashaO and @holmbergius from the Wild Me team at ConservationX Labs gave a superb talk at last month's Variety Hour,... |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps | 1 month 3 weeks ago | |
Can't beat Dan's list! I would just add that if you're interested in broader protected area management, platforms like EarthRanger and SMART are amazing, and can integrate... |
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Data management and processing tools, Camera Traps, Conservation Tech Training and Education | 1 month 2 weeks ago | |
EcoAssist is an application designed to streamline the work of ecologists dealing with camera trap images. It’s an AI platform that... |
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Software and Mobile Apps, AI for Conservation, Camera Traps | 2 months ago | |
Hi @Alasdair Great to hear from you! Thanks for the comment and for those very useful links (very interesting). And for letting @Rob_Appleby know. I can't wait to hear... |
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Emerging Tech, Camera Traps, Conservation Tech Training and Education | 2 months 1 week ago |
Stereoscopic Camera Project
24 August 2020 1:02pm
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
Competition: iWildCam 2020
4 May 2020 12:00am
Guidelines or Protocols for Camera Trapping Monitoring of Eurasian Otters?
20 April 2020 10:55am
28 April 2020 3:05pm
Hi Naomi,
I'm not aware of any guidelines published, but we've got the smooth coated otter in our camera traps before, and I suggest you follow a stratified sampling approach. You can stratify habitats along streams and flowing water bodies and place camera traps along stream banks especially where there are reed beds etc.
WILDLABS Community Call Recording: Rainforest X-PRIZE
30 March 2020 12:00am
Protocols for IDing big batches of camera trap data
5 March 2020 10:38am
19 March 2020 10:01am
Hi Morgan and Tim,
Thank you so much for these resources, I will go through these and get back to you with any questions.
Best,
Michelle
28 March 2020 6:22pm
Hi Michelle,
I had a group of undergrads help me with a 40,000-image dataset a few years back. We used the TEAM network Wild.ID program, so each photo that was tagged indicated who tagged it. That was helpful for checking quality later on. For our common, unmistakeable species (e.g. whitetail deer), I didn't require a second identification, but for more challenging groups (foxes, mustelids), I would often have a second person review the ID, or do it myself. Later on, I had a student go through all the tagged images of a particular species (gray squirrel, etc.) and verify the first ID. I found that some of the undergrads were very reliable in their ability to ID the species, whereas some other students needed to have their work checked more meticulously. I later thought of the idea of building a training set of say, 100 photos, to have each student run through to get a sense for their familiarity with the species, but also their ability to handle the more tricky scenarios that come up often in camtrap datasets.
Most folks could only handle 1-1.5 hours of continuous tagging. I had a few enthusiasts who would go for 2 hours straight, but that was rare. We logged effort in a shared google spreadsheet, where the students noted the dataset they worked on, any issues that came up, and any individual images that needed a second check.
I also tried to set up a more ergonomic workstation for folks (multiple monitors raised up, ergonomic mouse, etc.). Since the motion is so repetetive, easy for folks to develop carpal tunnel syndrome.
If you are dealing with a much larger dataset, you might want to look into more sophisticated AI/automation methods, but for a smaller project, this was doable. If you have a university connection, you can often recruit folks through chapter groups of The Wildlife Society. Student are often eager to gain experience, although many don't stick with it once they find out how unglamorous it is!
Good luck!
-Andy
29 March 2020 5:33am
Hi Tim,
Your diagramme shows a USB connection between the camera and the RPi. What kind of camera is it? Also, does this mean the RPi lives with the camera in the field?
Very interesting work.
Thanks,
-harold
Webinar: Citizen Science Online
26 March 2020 12:00am
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!)