Brand New Mammal Data
As the newest member of staff (at time of writing, not so anymore!) and fresh out of my Masters
Degree course in Conservation, I arrived eager to sink my teeth into some
science out in the field and leaving the computer behind. I was not
disappointed as I was immediately set to the task of learning frog names while
perched precariously upon subsiding muddy banks, mist netting techniques at
dawn and bird calls with a bag on my back and the sun on my face – goodbye
computer rooms, goodbye endless pots of tea, goodbye apologizing to the
cleaners for leaving three days of fast food detritus over my desk.
When I was offered
leadership of the mammal project, I was excited to get out there with our camera
traps and bring in some good data but also keen to expand the project as we are
unable to use the mammal data for the monitoring grid that has been put in
place. The answer to my problem was a double edged sword – the road. One day a
couple of us chanced upon a man with a laser measurer and discovered that they
were bringing us a brand spanking new asphalt surface to the road (there will
no doubt be a blog dedicated solely to the road in the near future). “Hurray!”
I heard the communities cry as they dreamed of a mere three hour journey to the
nearest town. Unfortunately for us this vision was a nightmare of chemical
run-off, tree clearance, increased traffic, light pollution and more.
It also
meant that we needed some data. We cannot stop the asphalt but we can measure
the before and after effects in the hope that environmental impact mitigation
will be taken seriously in the future. SO. Out went my traps (yes they are now
mine.) To date we have only done one transect but that one transect has yielded
some great results. Probably due to a combination of fantastic leadership and
wonderful volunteers who were willing to act out an array of different animals
so as to double and triple check that the camera angle was perfect, every trap
yielded goodies. There was a greater abundance of photos the further from the
road we went – lots of agouti - but as we got closer we began to see pacas,
armadillos and at 0m from the road – a bloomin' ocelot! This bodes well for the
future. Watch this space.
Charlotte Coupland, GVI Amazon Field Staff
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