Camera traps are set up to research and monitor animals without disturbing them too much. These motion-activated cameras are a great way to confirm the presence of species and to capture snapshots of animal behaviour. Researchers set these cameras up in areas of animal activity, and they sit there waiting for something to walk, crawl, or fly past.
These cameras are motionless, quiet and generally camouflaged-coloured, but though they are unobtrusive, that doesn't mean the animals they record are oblivious to them.
When something new pops up in a habitat, the inhabitants will check it out! These videos will give you a sense of something few people will experience: being sniffed by an aardvark, snuffled by an elephant and pecked by an eagle.
Aardvark
This is how Womble, the young aardvark here at the zoo, would check you out if she was being curious. Aardvarks investigate the world nose-first. They have a very strong sense of smell, good hearing, and comparatively weak eyesight. They use this powerful nose to sniff out ant nests, and they can completely shut their nostrils to stop their dinner from climbing in. This aardvark was spotted in Uganda, where we are monitoring and helping to protect giant pangolins.
Badger
Badgers tend to be most active at dusk and night. Like aardvarks, they rely less on eyesight and more on their other senses to navigate a darker world. They are omnivores and use their noses when foraging in low light to sniff out food. They eat anything from worms to buried tubers and small animals. They are champion diggers and live in burrows called setts, often in large families. This video was captured by our camera traps in Cheshire.
African elephant
These intelligent herbivores have a prehensile nose, meaning it can grasp and hold things. Elephant trunks are incredibly strong. They are capable of snapping thick branches, but they are also tipped with two muscular sections that act like fingers (Asian elephants only have one of these). This enables an elephant to carefully and delicately hold things. They also use their noses as snorkels and to spray drinking water into their mouths.
Snake eagle
This majestic bird of prey has a wide range across Africa, including much of Kenya and Uganda where our conservationists are monitoring giraffes and pangolins. Like all birds of prey, they are visual hunters with acute eyesight. As the name suggests, these eagles predate snakes, including highly venomous species. The thick skin on their legs provides some protection against bites. Eagles are intelligent birds - a recent study of harpy eagles suggests they are capable of social learning - and this individual certainly seemed curious about the camera.
African buffalo
The African buffalo has a tough reputation. Weighing up to three quarters of a tonne, their size and impressive curving horns have led to them becoming one of the 'big five' species iconic of African grasslands. They are categorised as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List. This curious male may be part of a large herd as African buffalos are social.
Warthog
If you have seen Big Pig in his Heart of Africa habitat, you'll know that warthogs have just the right physiology to root and dig with snouts and trotters. They are foragers who rely on their nose rather than their eyes, and they will eat insects, eggs, carrion, and vegetation. Like badgers, they are known to dig up roots. Like giant pangolins, they often sleep and rest underground in aardvark burrows.
