Collar-Mounted ‘Critter Cam’ Reveals Secret Lives Of Animals

by Patricia Collier

National Geographic has joined Alaska bear researchers to test what they call an "animal borne imaging system."

Designed to transmit video from a tiny camera mounted in a collar around an animal’s neck, the imaging unit lets researchers become voyeurs into the bear’s everyday activities.

The camera and microphone are placed in a waterproof box at the base of the collar, with an antenna at the top.

Since 1989, Alaska Department of Fish and Game has been studying the bears of northeast Chichagof Island, about 40 miles west of Juneau.

For 10 days in August 2003, researchers Steve Lewis and LaVern Beier were joined by a camera crew from National Geographic Television to test out the cam.

"Animal-borne imaging shows you things you can’t normally observe," said Greg Marshall, a producer for National Geographic who developed the systems he calls "critter cams."

Marshall, who was trained as a marine biologist, spent a decade developing imaging systems for marine animals.

He’s teamed up with engineer Dave Rasch for the past three years, working on an imaging system for land-roving animals, such as bears.

"It lets you see how an animal uses its habitat - away from humans and uninfluenced by human presence," Marshall said of the imaging.

"Natural behavior - that’s the fundamental concept," he added.

"The perspective is almost like a video game, where the player sees the world like the character in the game," said Lewis.

According to Marshall, the unit’s transmitter, an antenna which they hold in the direction of the bears, broadcasts a signal for about two miles if there’s nothing impairing the line of sight, but only about a half-mile in the rain forest where they’ve been working with the television crew.

Still, the success with the bear cam has been encouraging for Marshall. He and his crew want to develop smaller units for wolves, elk, wolverines, lynx and martens.

"We’re actually designing a system for eagles," he said. "An eagle cam for viewing remote images from flying birds."

Marshall said that there are limitless possibilities for the application of animal-borne imaging.

"There’s a huge opportunity out there to gain insight into habitat ecology, behavior - how animals are interacting, how they defend territory, how they are foraging," he said.

"We don’t even know what questions to ask yet because we haven’t been there."

© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.