Chimpcam
The "CHIMPCAM" is a remote video-camera capable of detecting movement near termite mounds and ant nests, triggering a digital camera to record unique footage of chimpanzees feeding at the mounds. The Goualougo Triangle Chimpanzee Project has been developing and applying this technology to make our conservation efforts more effective. For the past two years, we have implemented a remote monitoring system that was developed by Steve Gulick of Wildland Security to record images of chimpanzee tool use in three different communities. It consists of a passive infrared sensor which monitors activity, a computer program that processes this information, and a digital video camera as the recording device.
These remote video monitoring units have proven to be a feasible method of intensively surveying and studying the behavior of wild chimpanzees with minimal human impact. This new technology is already being implemented at two other ape research sites in Africa. So far 109 individuals have been identified, and we have initiated collaborations with several other sites in central Africa in an effort to examine tool use in termite predation by chimpanzees in a variety of habitat types.