Students in Botswana have been assisting PhD student, and former RRCS Botswana instructor, Lindsey Rich with her research on carnivores in the Okavango Delta (read more here). In late September, we set out 52 remote camera traps at 26 locations in the Sankuyo community concessions NG 33 and NG 34 (in the southeastern part of the Delta). All of the cameras are put up on roads (sand tracks), since carnivores use these roads to travel, especially at night. We set up 2 cameras at each station, so that we could get shots of animals walking by from both sides. The cameras will be up for a total of four weeks, and students have already begun collecting and reviewing the thousands of photos.
We thought we’d share a few good ones with you!
This huge leopard was caught on film the same night we put up the cameras!
There were a series of photos showing this lion and porcupine hanging out together by the cameras. Despite what appears to be a lot of licking, it doesn’t seem like the lion damaged the camera at all – just knocked it off it’s tree. Luckily, a friendly passer by put the camera back up!
Anteater! These creatures are very rarely seen, so it was great to catch one on camera. It looks like this one must have been moving quickly since the photo is a bit blurry.
Big male lion cruising around in the early morning light.
Close up of an elephant
African wild dog!
A curious spotted hyena. And notice the eye shine in the tree! Must be a couple owls, or genets?