Rat monitoring

Animals identified by the DOC AI Cam

Thermal cameras are a very sensitive technique for monitoring rats.  This experiment shows a thermal camera picking up 5-20 times more rats than a trail camera, depending on how far away the camera is from the rat.

The reason for this is that the heat of the rat stands out against the cold of the bush, but they are camouflaged and don't trigger trail cameras.

In this monitoring report comparing tracking tunnels and chew cards to thermal cameras, the thermal camera detected 621 rat visits compared to only 8 detected by the traditional monitoring.

The additional advantage is it takes a lot less time and skill to interpret the data. You machine vision takes most of the work out of this.

The thermal cameras also allow you better understand animal behaviour. For example this experiment by Lincoln University shows the importance of scent trails.

Here's an example of rats at Mamaku Point in Stewart Island/Rakiura

The Cacophony Project Thermal camera can now distinguish between rats and mice. It is manufactured and sold by 2040.