Improving camera traps for reptiles

This video is about reptiles (and at least one amphibian), filmed by a camera trap at a wildlife corridor in the Netherlands.

The Dutch herpetologists of RAVON write today about reptiles using wildlife corridors. Until recently, they were often not detected, or the image quality was so bad that people could not know which species had been filmed.

In 2014, an experiment started in the Fochteloërveen nature reserve to improve camera traps especially for reptiles. This worked. From May-September this year 97 reptiles using two corridors were recorded (27 adders, 56 grass snakes, five smooth snakes, nine common lizards). There were also many mammals, like stoats, pine martens and hedgehogs.

RAVON plans to improve the system further in 2015; maybe making it possible to even recognize individuals.

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