MOSAIC project research

Rare species caught on camera traps

In total, over the past 18 months, anywhere between four and ten cameras have been in operation at any one time. An additional ten cameras have just been purchased and six more are being repaired which will be used by staff of the Forest Protection Department, bringing the total to 24 cameras that will be operating during the coming two years of the project.

Cameras are also focused on the saola, small cats and the otter civet, which has only been recorded from a single specimen in north Vietnam in the early part of the 1900s, although it is thought it could be an Annamites lowland species.

While the tiger and the saola may be camera shy, other species seemingly enjoy the limelight and fancy themselves being superstars. Monkeys, which quickly learn how to trigger the flash, easily use up a whole roll of film with their antics, while at least one entire roll of film captured wild pigs wallowing in the mud right where the camera was placed.

Wet tropical weather conditions and a lack of experience on the part of village patrols and forest ranges also result in imperfect results. Still, the camera has managed to capture muntjacs, many civets and some very strange creatures such as the ferret badger and the rare spotted linsang.

The cameras have also caught hunters in the act.

Funding for much of this work has been provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service which supports the protection of tigers, and Conservation International for researching small cats. It is hoped that funding will be available next year from the US Fish and Wildlife Service to monitor elephants.