Investigating the ecology of wildlife using animal-borne video systems

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25450477
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Integrative animal science
• Research Institution: University of Hyogo
• Principal Investigator: Morimitsu Yoshiki 兵庫県立大学, 自然・環境科学研究所, 准教授 (20453160)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): YASUYUKI MUROYAMA 東洋大学, 経営学部, 教授 (70314242) ; Daisuke Fujiki 兵庫県立大学, 自然・環境科学研究所, 准教授 (30435896)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: バイオロギング / バイオテレメトリー / 画像情報スキャニングシステム / GPS発信器 / ツキノワグマ / 野生動物 / 採食物分析 / 行動分析

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Behaviors of wild animals have been studied mainly with a direct observation method. In many cases, however, observation is difficult because wild animals tend to avoid human beings. This is why, in our studies, we were focused on photographing and information collection from the viewpoints of wild animals by attaching animal-borne video systems to them. The very small video cameras could take images night and day. The 670 min of the usable footage was analyzed, with a total of 275 min (41.0%) recording traveling behavior, 357 min (53.3%) resting, 36 min (5.4%) feeding, 1.5 min (0.2%) drinking water, and 30 seconds (0.1%)mating.In any case, video analysis using miniature camera attachments is a highly superior study method to investigate the ecology of wild animal species. Thus, the number of studies analyzing information obtained via the attachment of cameras directly onto wild animals is likely to increase in future.

Free Research Field

野生動物管理学