Fascinating pictures of animals taken with a remote controlled camera

Torsten Bohm, our researcher interested in hyenas, has just sent us some fascinating pictures from Gabon via e-mail. He took them with a remote controlled camera. This top of the line camera is predominantly for night use and is triggered by motion. Making it work especially well when everything is calm and the most skittish animals can get photographed under the blanket of darkness. And a Gabonese jungle at night is full of life... An elephant mother together with her child, a pangolin, a group of chimpanzees in frenzy and something absolutely sensational: a black serval!

Apart from the beautiful pictures use of the camera is scientifically motivated: Torsten Bohm, a biologist, wants to learn which predator species live in and around the Batéké Plateaux savannah ecosystem and what is the level of the actual population densities of certain species.

The application of remotely controlled cameras was an intense feat, according to what Torsten had stated in his e-mail. Together with his team they had to transport the remote controlled cameras, safety boxes, locks and chains, including their food and equipment. "We marched until we fell, often without a lunch break and sometimes until the sunset. After we completed our main objective, the installation of the cameras we had to take care of our other objectives – to check the cameras were working properly and secure the first photographs. The team returned last Friday and on Wednesday we are setting out again with a bigger objective of moving the remotely controlled cameras from one zone to another. Then, I’ll probably be doing fieldwork throughout the entire 8 days until Wednesday.”

The application of remotely controlled cameras was an intense feat, according to what Torsten had stated in his e-mail. Together with his team they had to transport the remote controlled cameras, safety boxes, locks and chains, including their food and equipment. "We marched until we fell, often without a lunch break and sometimes until the sunset. After we completed our main objective, the installation of the cameras we had to take care of our other objectives – to check the cameras were working properly and secure the first photographs. The team returned last Friday and on Wednesday we are setting out again with a bigger objective of moving the remotely controlled cameras from one zone to another. Then, I’ll probably be doing fieldwork throughout the entire 8 days until Wednesday.”