Some months ago now, I met with a very inspirational man; Andy Whitworth. We have come into contact through his use of Bushnell trail cams on some quite amazing projects out in the Manu Biosphere Reserve in Peru. The Manu Biosphere Reserve is one of the most biodiverse locations on the planet, with elevations ranging from 3, 500m right down to lowland Amazonian rainforest at less than 400m. His exciting, innovative use of trail cams in the rainforest canopy to monitor arboreal mammals really caught my eye.
Three key sites have been identified and each site will contain a number of Bushnell trail cams. The first set of camera traps will be set in a traditional terrestrial format, the second set at 10-12 meters in the under-storey and the final set at 25-40 meters up in the canopy. This allows the team to understand trends within the rainforest at different strata, something often overlooked in may research projects within rainforest environments.
Andy and the team have already been using Bushnells and have obtained some fantastic footage! This video clip explains some of their work…
Andy explained that he had high hopes for 2014, but his amazing work is dependant entirely on the number of Bushnells he can get in the field; the more trail cams he could get his hands on, the more chances he would get to capture exciting footage! This is where I was hoping I could help! Approaching Bushnell direct, I worked to secure a great deal for Andy, meaning he will now have 63 Bushnell trail cams out in the rainforest!
You can find out more about the project and Andy and the team’s work HERE and you can see some more of their video HERE on their YouTube channel. They also post some amazing Bushnell captures on their FACEBOOK page
One day, I will join Andy out in Peru and volunteer, helping them set up Bushnells in this unique habitat and collect and collate footage… it would be incredible. Until then, I will sport him through the donation of a number of trail cams and by publicising the work he does. I wish him all the best in his travels and will be sharing his footage both on my website and on Twitter… I can’t wait to see what he captures!