In November 2008 Chris knowles, a zoologist from Cambridgeshire in the UK, spent a few weeks at REGUA looking for reptiles. Chris also had a small number of camera traps to try and capture images of some of the cat species known to be at REGUA, and although he didn’t manage to film any cats but did manage capture some fascinating images of other mammals.

This year, Israel Dias de Carvalho, a student undertaking his Masters in Conservation Science at the UFRRJ University, has been using 10 camera traps to estimate the population of medium and large mammals at REGUA. Israel has captured some fantastic images of such animals as Puma Puma concolor, Ocelot Leopardus pardalis, Collared Peccary Tayassu tajacu, South American Coati Nasua nasua and Tayra Eira barbara.

One of REGUA’s objectives is to establish a comprehensive inventory of the biodiversity on the reserve, so last month we started using three camera traps of our own, so we could conduct our own studies into the more elusive animals found on the reserve. Our bird guide, Adilei has been placed in charge of the cameras and has already captured video of some interesting mammals, including Paca Agouti paca (below, top) and South-eastern Common Opossum Didelphis aurita (below, bottom). Adilei has since captured video of Crab-eating Fox Cerdocyon thous, which will be posted on our website soon.

For more camera trap videos taken at REGUA in September click here.