I am investigating the possibility of setting up den cameras for my bat-eared foxes, which would allow me to record their social interactions in the den itself. These are natural dens/ hollows, and I want to do this in the least invasive way possible. Ordinary camera traps work fine for comings and goings outside the den, but I'm curious about the interior...
What equipment and set-up could you recommend?
Thanks!
I had some success with a boroscope in snake nests (attached). The scope had LEDs attached to the end and a variable light control. Also, the screen and recording device could pick up the signal wirelessly from a few meters away. You do have to be present, though, and my scope only went about 2 meters into the burrow.
Sam Easterson (link attached) has collected some really impressive footage in burrows, including foxes, though I don't know what equipment he uses. Might be worth reaching out.
Finally, what would be really cool, you could get some collar cameras people put on their dogs and cats. I don't know if there are IR models out there though.
Good luck!
http://www.vdb.org/titles/burrow-cams
Article Anaxyrus fowleri (Fowler's toad) interspecific nest use
We used video-observation for nest-predation! Self-made equipment (as usual): small webcams on long flexible mounts (goosneck flexarms, e.g. manfrotto). Videoobservation is much better than cam-traps, you have no delay!
The collar-cams for cats are quite cool. The best seem to be those of National Geographic. However, you may not buy, but only rent them - for a fee of 300,-€/week.
Many years ago, we did surveys of American Marten dens. We used a passive infrared-triggered video camera outside the den to see comings and goings (it was quite useful as we had new observations of male behavior and such), and for inside the den we used a "Burrow Probe," which was a closed circuit video cam with a flexible probe and lights and camera on the end. It was difficult to use in our situation but worked sometimes. Mostly used to detect young in the den. Both items were commercially available back in the day.
Thanks for all the ideas! I'm going to look into some options; sometimes the biggest challenge is finding equipment in South Africa -- it may be challenging for me to rent those collar cams, for example. The boroscopes look very promising, although I suspect IR will be the biggest challenge.
In terms of making my own equipment, I've seen a few IR webcams out there; I will look into that idea, thanks!
I used IR triggered camera traps many years ago to study urban fox foraging behaviour in gardens. The delay was a nightmare, and the only way we could identify individual foxes was to leave bait in front of the cameras (defeated the point of a study into foraging behaviour!). I would suspect if your monitoring fox dens that this wouldn't be as much of an issue, but I also think with the advance in camera technology there's probably some way to set up motion activated GoPro's - small, robust and relatively cheap! It would also give you the flexibility to take video or still frame shots. Interested to know what you come up with!
I suggest standalone DVR with external mini CCTV IR camera with special mounting. You could use up to 100 m cables between camera and DVR, this to minimize disturbance at the den.
http://lobstercam.net/
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Some of my colleagues strongly recommended high-end FLIR (forward-looking infra-red) cameras for detecting behaviour inside the dens. Apparently they can distinguish 0.1 degree differences in temperature, so can easily tell the underground animals apart. Does anybody have experience with these?
The borescopes option seems a bit tricky if you don't want to disrupt existing dens and behaviour, but I'm currently looking into that as an option. The FLIR idea seems a bit less invasive -- IF it would work, in practice, for a den about as deep as an aardvark burrow.
Hello Aliza,
Did you ever come up with anything on this? I am looking into filming inside burrows and dens and wanted to know if you managed it? The hardest part for me is not the camera tech, but finding a burrow that is well-used, but only at certain times of the year, allowing for bugging before the animal returns...
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