I've noticed that in recent years there has been an overall trend of using camera traps and other such methodologies to take pictures of large animals in remote regions. I was wondering if when doing these studies, if cameras ever get destroyed by accident due to adverse environmental conditions or large animals accidentally breaking them.
I hope you wont mind me answering it this late. We have got our camera traps destroyed by both weather and wildlife. Large hailstones have damaged our camera traps breaking the flashes and even breaking the camera traps body. Striped hyaena tend to be aggressive against camera traps as well. A colleague of mine had two camera traps destroyed entirely by hyaenas. He could not even retrieve the memory cards.
I am currently using camera traps to study large mammals in central India. All wildlife are generally curious and will come and sniff, lick,bite any new camera trap deployed on field. If this is done by a Gaur (which weighs about 1000 kg), Then it is inevitable that the body suffers some damage. However, I have never had a camera trap so damaged that it could not be deployed. Any damage caused by wildlife was superficial scuffs and scratches on the body.
The main issue I have faced due to wildlife is that the angle of my camera traps is often changed and it is not pointing towards the original location. The response of wildlife towards camera traps is often species specific. Deer and Gaur leave them alone after a superficial inspection. Tigers sometimes use the wooden posts I use to deploy traps as a convenient location to scent mark. Wild boar love to give themselves a good scratch against the rough canvas straps I use to secure my cameras. It is also a good perch for birds so most of my camera traps have a layer of bird poop on top by the time I go to retrieve them. Monkeys and tiger or leopard cubs are probably the worst as they spend an incredible amount of time fiddling with trap, the straps or the pole itself. In my case, thankfully they seem more interested in the straps and my cameras have never suffered much from their attentions :)
it really depends on where you are trapping. here are the 3 issues I have had in my experience:
Most likely: theft. I have had a few traps stolen especially in areas where people are poor. Also in areas with poaching activity, I have found that someone had stolen the SD card or in one case taken it, snapped it in half and left it on the ground. If you have the funds, there are metal casings, but usually bike locks to secute the camera in place and padlocks to keep them shut is enough.
Also likely: rain. I have trapped in the amazon during rainy season and have had some of my traps waterlogged. This is not so much the broblem with Bushnell models but definitely with Browning I dont want to build hides because that draws attention to the trap (theft). But I found that for the browning traps I can seal the casing (just the "door" is really an issue) wil silicone and just peel it off when I collect the camera.
Not so likely: animal damage. I have seen damage from hyena: They have a weird affinity to all things rubber and plastic and love to chew on things. they have very powerfu jaws and can destroy your trap. so if you are going to a hyena country, i really recommend a metal casing. you can buy them specific for your trap model.
the other animal issue, again amazonian: leaf cutter ants and termites can chew through the ropes securing the trap. this is only an issue if you leave it long enough and you can select your rope in anticipation for that.
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