From Footprints to Footage

Hi, friends ?? It’s great to see you all back for our May ‘24 Linkedin Newsletter! This month, we’re here to talk about camera traps and why they’re important in our efforts to bring back the natural biodiversity of our reforestation sites!

Our commitment to becoming nature-positive goes beyond planting trees — it's about taking care of everything and anything to do with the environment. Biodiversity, together with climate and community, is a core pillar of our reforestation plan and to measure our impact, we need to understand the wildlife that calls the Bornean rainforest its home.

While we've relied on manual observations like footprints and sightings, these methods offer limited insights — that's why we installed camera traps! By leveraging data from both recorded and physical observations, we're better equipped to track wildlife diversity and guide our restoration efforts.

?? Our camera trap network

To effectively capture wildlife activity, we opted for cameras with video mode, allowing us to track even the fastest-moving animals. We installed a network of three camera traps in the forest surrounding our restoration site on January 15th, 2024. Each camera is positioned approximately two meters from trails and at least 50 centimeters above the ground, securely attached to a tree or pole. Every two weeks, our field team retrieves data from the SD cards and ensures the traps are secured and functioning properly.

?? Where we place our camera traps

To maximize the effectiveness of our camera traps, we selected three distinct locations based on the following criteria:

• Confirmed wildlife activity: Areas with confirmed wildlife activity, based on our team's physical findings of footprints, feces, or nests.
• High potential for wildlife activity: Proximity to areas that are often used by wildlife, e.g. natural trails, water sources, ridges, fallen logs, and open areas.
• Low disturbance: Little to no human disturbances, e.g. located far from human residences to ensure the animals are undisturbed and exhibit their natural behavior.

We plan to relocate cameras every three months based on the traffic of wildlife captured. If a particular location shows high activity, we'll keep it there to gather more data. However, if a camera captures minimal activity, we'll move it to other locations to optimize data collection and gain insights from various areas.

?? Who's in the jungle?

Our camera traps have been recording glimpses of the wildlife surrounding our restoration sites, among the species we've documented so far are:

1. Long-tailed Macaque
2. Small-toothed Palm Civet
3. Tree-shrew
4. Bornean Fruit Bat
5. Common Mabuya
6. Thick-spined Porcupine
7. Long-tailed Field Mouse
8. Rufous-tailed Shama
9. Olive-backed Sunbird

Each captured footage helps us understand the forest's wildlife biodiversity and the vital roles these species play within the ecosystem. As the restoration progresses and the trees mature, we hope to see an even greater diversity of wildlife returning to their natural habitat — you can be a part of the journey! Subscribe to our Bumiterra restoration plan to restore degraded rainforests and regenerate valuable wildlife, get in touch with us to learn more.