Wildlife cameras have been capturing images in Calgary natural areas including Weaselhead, South and North Glenmore Parks since May 2017 – the report on five years of results and maps showing where species were seen can be downloaded from the Miistakis Institute
Which wildlife was captured most on camera over 5 years?
Find out by reading the 5 year Graphical Summary!
Also learn more about:
- What species are occurring in Calgary’s parks system;
- How human activities impact wildlife movement in parks;
- Validation of wildlife corridor modeling done for Calgary; and
- Long-term monitoring to assess trends and patterns of terrestrial mammals occurring in Calgary.
Who calls Calgary home?
Calgary supports a population of 1.7 million people but is also home to a diverse array of terrestrial mammals, including bobcat, moose, deer, coyote and skunks. There are occasional reports of black bears and cougars as well. While we can’t directly measure populations with the data from our cameras, we can get a sense of which species are most common and where they are likeliest to be found. Finding out where certain species occur allows us to target future conservation and management efforts to ensure we can coexist with our wild neighbors.
How can humans and wildlife co-exist in a city?
People change the way wildlife use the landscape, but how is often an unknown. Some species adapt well to humans, some are indifferent, and others tend to avoid us. By collecting incidental observation data on humans (what time of day do we use our parks etc) we can get a sense of how animals in urban settings react to humans. Humans are an integral part of the system, and the camera data allows us to better understand our impact and inform co-existence strategies.
Why Cameras?
Our research includes a network of motion-activated trail cameras (128 different locations over 5 years!), which automatically take photos of animals as they pass by. Camera technology gives us the ability to have many “eyes on the ground” and give us the opportunity to gather large amounts of data that would not be otherwise feasible with traditional field research methods. By establishing a camera network in parks throughout the City of Calgary, we hope to develop a more complete picture of our wild neighbors.
Need more information? Contact education@theweaselhead.com
