End-of-Year Benchmark Writing Assignment: The Power of Cameras in Protecting Wildlife

“Here There Be Jaguars” by David C. Louis

The mountains of Sonora, Mexico, are rough and rugged lands. Traveling here is not for the faint of heart. These mountainous habitats are oftentimes called “thorn-scrub,” and it’s about as pleasant as it sounds. Plants like acacia and agave and several types of cactus offer all kinds of sharp thorns and spiky leaves to greet anyone who dares to hike these hillsides. But this dense vegetation is the perfect habitat for a large and secretive predator. This is the home of the jaguar.

The Northern Jaguar Reserve sits about 125 miles (200 km) south of the United States–Mexico border. Here, deep in the foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range, the reserve offers 55,000 acres of sprawling, wild landscapes of forest and desert, canyons and rivers. You could fit two Disney Worlds into 55,000 acres.

The reserve is a strange mix of desert and tropical ecosystems, where two worlds collide. Enormous organ pipe cactus from the dry desert can be found beneath towering palm trees from the lush tropics. More than a dozen species of hummingbirds live here, as do military macaws, the dazzling (and noisy!) green parrots that nest in cliffs over the river. Troops of coatimundi—a goofy relative of the raccoon—can be seen scurrying through the dry creek beds in search of food. Mountain lions and bobcats, Gila monsters and tarantulas are common here too. The smaller cousin of the jaguar, the ocelot, calls the reserve home as well. Like the jaguar, the ocelot has a spectacular spotted coat. It, too, is a secretive cat.

Eyes in the Forest

Miguel Gómez has hundreds of eyes watching the reserve’s secret world of wildlife. Gómez is a biologist for the Northern Jaguar Project, a Tucson-based nonprofit that manages the reserve to protect the jaguar and other wild creatures in northern Mexico. Each month, he travels the rocky and remote roads to check camera traps. These are small digital cameras hidden away in strategic locations around the reserve. This network of cameras—more than 150 in all—captures a fascinating world.

The camera traps are mounted in areas where jaguars and other wildlife are known to travel and visit. This could be next to a dry stream bed, along an overgrown old road, or at the muddy banks of a watering hole. When an animal passes in front of the camera, a sensor triggers and snaps a picture. The resulting photos uncover a family of mountain lions snoozing on a patch of grass, a pair of ocelots sharpening their claws on a downed log, a mother jaguar and her young cub. You never know what wild world the photos will reveal.

Collecting Data

Back at camp, Gómez reviews the photos on a laptop. He flips through the photos—hundreds of them from one camera that hasn’t been checked in six weeks. Today’s batch of pics captured a roadrunner and a pig-like javelina, a badger and a pair of bobcats. Then . . . a jaguar! A series of photos captured a big male strolling along an old dirt road. This magnificent cat was just a few hundred feet from camp!

Gómez says that the cameras are especially useful when studying jaguars and ocelots. “These are recognizable animals because of their spot pattern,” he says.

Although the images are thrilling, each one is so much more than a photo of an unknown world. The collected photos add up to a massive database of images. These data can help scientists like Gómez better understand the habits of mysterious animals. By using information such as when and where the photos were captured, Gómez can piece together the story of the reserve’s cats.

Tools of the Trade

Although camera traps have been used to study wildlife for more than 100 years, the practice has become widespread in recent decades. With digital technology so advanced (and affordable), biologists use all kinds of hidden cameras to spy on our wild friends. Some cameras are armed with motion detectors that snap pictures when something passes by. Other cameras are triggered through the body heat of an animal. Some cameras can capture images in complete darkness without a flash, while others can record videos.

One key advantage to using camera traps to study wildlife is that the traps are non-invasive. This means they don’t disturb or hurt the animals being studied. Oftentimes, scientists capture, tag, and release animals to better understand their habits—how they move, where they live, what they like to eat. They tag the animals with some sort of identification like a leg band on a bird or a collar on a wolf. Capturing and handling wildlife can cause the animal a lot of stress. It may even result in death. Camera traps let scientists avoid these risks.

Camera traps are practical too. Each camera is fairly inexpensive. It’s simple to place them in remote, hard-to-reach areas where the shyest of animals live. Scientists can leave the cameras for months at a time, capturing the various changes to wildlife behavior throughout the year.

Around the world, camera traps have led to some remarkable discoveries. In 2012, camera traps captured pics of the Amur leopard in China, where it hadn’t been seen in decades. In California, camera traps recently snapped the elusive wolverine, a giant member of the weasel family missing from the state since 1922. Camera traps are even being used at backyard birdfeeders to capture the daily lives of our feathered friends. They are allowing us to peek inside the lives of animals.

Seeing the Bigger Picture

The photos taken by camera traps offer just one piece of data in a much larger picture of the secret life of a big cat. Mapping tools also help scientists better understand the jaguar and its habitats. Geographic information systems (GIS) is powerful mapping software that is widely used throughout the sciences. GIS relies on satellite imagery to map entire landscapes. When biologists use GIS along with camera trap photos, they can map out where the jaguar lives and how it moves through the landscape.

First, biologists like Gómez will design a network of camera traps and place them around an area such as the Northern Jaguar Reserve. The resulting photos help identify where jaguars are and where they are not. The photos tell biologists what types of habitats jaguars prefer and what habitats they might avoid. Then they use the GIS mapping tool to identify other, similar habitats in the area. With GIS, biologists can predict where suitable jaguar habitats are in the larger landscape.

Used together, camera trap photos and GIS create a dataset of important information. These data can help protect the cat and its habitats. Maybe a government agency is planning to construct a road near where jaguars are known to live. Or perhaps a rancher wants to set aside some land for wildlife. Biologists like Gómez can use this powerful dataset to create maps of potential jaguar habitat. These maps highlight the most critical areas to protect.

Mapping efforts are especially important when identifying wildlife corridors, the natural pathways that connect patches of habitat. Corridors allow jaguars and other wildlife to move from habitat patch to habitat patch in search of resources like food, water, and mates. Corridors let animals adapt to changing landscapes and avoid dangerous barriers like cities, farmlands, or roads.

“Jaguars move long distances before finding a permanent place for living,” Gómez explains. “During their search for this place, they need safe corridors for their movements. This corridor needs to be in good enough condition to provide them food and resting places before they continue their search.”

Camera traps are providing critical information to biologists who have dedicated their lives to studying the jaguar and other wildlife. These cameras—along with other tools—are revealing a secret world that we are just beginning to understand. Only with this understanding will we be able to protect the jaguar and its wild kingdom.

“Creature Close-Up” by Maggie Mead

Joel Sartore has seen animals from every angle. The wildlife photographer has been hugged by trained grizzly bears. His face has been blanketed with monarch butterflies. And his camera was almost broken by an angry bird called a white-crowned hornbill.

Sartore lives in Lincoln, Nebraska. For years, he traveled the globe taking pictures of animals in the wild. Now he’s on a different mission. He calls it the Photo Ark. Sartore wants to photograph all 12,000 animal species in zoos, aquariums, and other facilities around the world. That includes everything from a tiny tiger beetle to an enormous African elephant.

Why? Many animals face threats to their survival, such as shrinking habitats and climate change. A growing number are becoming endangered. Some species are dying out completely.

Sartore hopes his striking portraits will draw people’s attention to the animals’ struggles. “I hope people are moved to learn about the animals they most connect to,” he says. “Only then will they take action to save them.”

People Problems

Over millions of years, new species arise in nature. Others gradually die off. Scientists think that before humans existed, these changes took place at about the same rate.

Today, animal species are becoming extinct about 1,000 times faster than new ones are appearing, says Stuart Pimm. He’s a biologist who studies extinction at Duke University in North Carolina. Pimm says that humans are the main reason so many species are struggling. “We’re destroying species’ homes,” he says.

Around the world, people are cutting down forests where animals live, says Pimm. They’re releasing pollution that contributes to climate change. This warms the planet and makes many habitats less suitable for the plants and animals that live there.

Humans also bring invasive species to new areas. These plants and animals compete with native species for food. They can also spread diseases to local organisms.

As a wildlife photographer, Sartore documented some of the ways human activity was harming animals. He took photos of koalas that had been killed by pet dogs in Australia. After an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, he snapped pictures of pelicans coated in oil. He hoped these photos would inspire people to protect nature. But he wanted to make a bigger impact.

Say Cheese!

In 2006, Sartore asked the Lincoln Children’s Zoo if he could take close-up photos of a small animal. The staff brought out a naked mole rat—a hairless, toothy rodent that lives underground. Sartore’s photos of the strange animal became the first images in the Photo Ark.

Since then, Sartore has photographed more than 7,000 creatures in captivity around the world. He uses paint, fabric, or paper to create a plain white or black backdrop for each portrait. That helps him show the animals without any distractions. He also shoots each animal up close. “A mouse is as big as an elephant in these photos,” he says.

Sartore works with animal handlers to make sure each animal is comfortable being photographed. But the photo shoots aren’t always easy. In 2011, Sartore attempted to photograph a chimpanzee at a zoo in Kansas. Just before Sartore could snap a photo, the chimp ripped down the white paper backdrop and ran away. “That shoot lasted less than three seconds,” says Sartore.

Race Against Extinction

As more animals die out, Sartore has hurried to document them. In 2015, he traveled to the Czech Republic to photograph one of the last living northern white rhinos. Two weeks later, the animal died. Now there are only three left in the world—all in captivity.

Sartore has photographed the last living members of some species, like the Rabbs’ fringe-limbed tree frog. This brown Central American frog was discovered in 2005 and became extinct in 2016.

The extinction of a single species may seem unimportant. But the plants and animals in an ecosystem all depend on one another to survive. When one species disappears, Sartore points out, others can soon follow.

Sartore hopes that governments will pass more laws to protect endangered animals and their habitats. But individuals can make a difference too. By recycling and using less energy, you can help reduce pollution. Sartore also recommends supporting your local zoo, which works to protect endangered species.

Sartore thinks it will take him about 15 more years to photograph the rest of the world’s captive species. But he’s determined to keep going. “I still believe that people want to help,” he says. “But first, they have to meet these animals and learn what the problems are.”