Blog

Vist the blog for news and results from the Project. 

We decided to do the Critter Camera project for our Silver Award for Girl Scouts. To get started on the Critter Camera project you will need to contact someone from Triangle Land Conservancy. After you do this, you will have to complete an online training including information about the camera details, eMammal, and how to complete the Critter Camera Project. The camera used for this project is motion sensored, so it takes pictures when it detects movement.

Here is a schematic of our study design at the start of our project.

In honor of "Poem in Your Pocket Day," students of Lena Deskins' 5th grade class at Sandy Ridge Elementary School took to their pens using eMammal camera trap photos as their muse. Students were inspired by coyotes, deer, squirrels, and turkeys. They are participating in an experiment to see how animals react to novel objects (in this case, a plastic lawn flamingo!). Not only did they get fantastic animal shots, but they also observed a coyote biting the flamingo, a man trying to take the flamingo, and a boy messing with the camera.

By Sally Bowers

By Sally Bowers

One of the biggest misconceptions about North Carolina wildlife is the existence of cougars, or black panthers, in our state. The cougar is a big cat known by many names including panther, mountain lion, puma and up to 80 more, but these are all the same species, Puma concolor. 

There are twenty armadillo species in the world and all live exclusively in Latin America, except one. The nine-banded armadillo has been slowly but steadily making its way north from Central and South America.  In fact, it has recently made it all the way to North Carolina!  It was first sighted in the state in 2008 and since then its expansion has continued, covering twelve counties in the western and southern portions of the state. In 2013, the North Carolina Wildlife Commission sought help from the public in documenting observations of the species statewide.

By Stephanie Schuttler

The word “skunk” evokes a specific image to come to mind. Did you imagine a cat-sized animal with black and white stripes and the capacity to produce an infamous odor? Depending on where you are from, you may have pictured a more or less stripe-y skunk.