today we'll take you behind the scenes to show you how technology plays a growing role in exhibits like this tiny computer chips tracking animal behavior we even get a little messy with zoo volunteers hiking around our cities tracking animals with special cameras right now on cairo seven [Music] hello and welcome to an inside look at woodland park zoo i'm your host tracy taylor now if you followed us the last couple of seasons you've seen a goat with a fitness regimen a female orangutang introduced to the group and more zoo babies than we can count but today we're focusing on what you don't see as a guest the technology side of things when you think about meat eating mammals you may picture a big tiger a wolf or a bear at woodland park zoo but there are many other kinds of carnivores some can even be found right here in the city katie ramain has seen it herself she's a co-founder of the urban carnivore project which tracks these animals so if you think of raccoons or even black bears and to some extent coyotes they're in that group of animals called carnivores but they actually eat a broad diet of different things the project uses high-tech remote cameras called camera traps to learn about wildlife they don't disturb the animals and they're safe for people we set out camera traps in green spaces and parks all across the greater seattle area the cameras are sealed in a metal box to keep the camera safe let's do the walk test once the camera goes into the metal enclosure it goes out armed with a motion sensor and then it's locked into place on a tree it's relatively basic but it's got a memory card and batteries and so it's just running you know for the month between the times the volunteers are checking on it and getting pictures of animals cameras are strategically placed it's not as simple as going out to a park and just setting them up anywhere this is a part of a national effort to study wildlife and we all use a protocol and study design for setting out the cameras that allows us to compare trends about urban wildlife across the country and across the continent cameras range from close to the hustle and bustle of downtown to quieter rural areas so some of our cameras that are furthest along are out kind of in the duval issaquah area so that allows us and and every other city in this urban wildlife information network allows us to look at patterns of these species you know from that really urban to less urban so tell us about how that human and animal interaction plays into part here as we start to collect this data we'll hope to understand more about the patterns and trends and behaviors of urban carnivores and to help us understand things like why is it best to keep your dog on a leash when you're out walking in the park how can you make sure you don't have things that are attracting coyotes and raccoons that you might not want in your backyard it's all about helping animals and humans coexist and the seattle urban carnivore project relies on an army of volunteers to get cameras set up and help the research continue it's a really awesome group of volunteers that help us collect the data and then from there they submit information about their visit every month and they also get the photos to us and as i'm sure you learned with the wolverine project you can get a lot of photos that become a lot of data and some of the pictures are quite rewarding i just love how curious this coyote he's like weight loss yeah and then this is a fun one of a bunch a bunch of raccoons they're also interested in that sentence online tools are helping take this research to the next level the zoo created a website where you can report carnivore sightings from home carnivorespotter.org for anyone in the community who sees a river otter or raccoon or a coyote in their neighborhood whether you get a picture or not it's great if you can but if you even if you can't you can go on to carnivore spotter and log your observation there are pictures on here katie says the new artificial intelligence technology will also save researchers a lot of time going through all of the photos it'll take an initial look and it'll help us to divide the photos first into these ones are blank these ones have animals it'll give an initial guess it might say it's in the cat family or it might even say it's a bobcat so it's over time the tool is going to be trained better and better now we just heard from katie remind about the seattle urban carnivore project so let's head out with volunteers who help keep this vital research going it's a cold saturday in march there's this change set up right yeah a group of volunteers gathers to collect data from devices called camera traps left in the woods from the month before as we hike to the secret spot i walk with darren he's one of the volunteers it's got to be rewarding to come back and look at some of the stuff that you find on the camera it's very rewarding yeah yeah it's neat to see what we're actually what's actually living in the parks yeah what is one of the most interesting things that you've seen so far on some of the cameras oh we see some really neat stuff um lots of coyotes okay around here raccoons not on these cameras but other cameras we've seen bobcats so let's go check out one of those cameras yeah like katie told us back at the zoo there are many of these cameras scattered strategically across the region some like the one we're headed to are in parks just around the corner from sports fields and pickleball courts a little bush wacky in here down the trail in the mud and over the trees we hit the coordinates and find the camera where it was placed last month the camera setup is over here right on that tree right there and then the scent disc is on the opposite tree down there volunteers spend one saturday a month to check cameras so that's the camera right there collect data i'm just gonna pop that and replace the scent disc it smells kind of funky a stinky cheese smell that attracts animals to walk in front of the camera this trip volunteers also replace the old camera and housing for a new device so we would just take the card out of this and put in a new card and then set it up because we're on a new season now it's time to get that data that looks great since the camera on the first stop is being replaced this will take a little longer than the other stops for the day [Music] volunteers were given a new camera and new camera enclosure for this coordinate so what we might want to do is pull the camera out while we hang it and while it may look like an easy setup there are several measurements that need to be taken crews need to test the equipment and make sure that everything is image capture ready we've got the tape measure ready it's important to get the correct measurements from the camera like right here because the camera is motion activated that's ten foot four inches if an animal is too far away you can't get the pictures camera one has been replaced now off to camera location number two unfortunately this camera malfunctioned and there were no pictures for us to see when did that happen volunteers make the best of the situation and set up the camera with a new sd card and fatty acid scent disc ready for scavengers zigzag until we see the light turn off i was excited to help the volunteers with measurements on this stop here i'm doing what is called the walk test right back towards the camera there okay i think that's our detectable distance great now comes the best parts seeing the results we always look at the pictures here just to make sure everything is good and to give all the team members the opportunity to see the pictures that we got all that data helps scientists learn there's a rat on that branch right there so this is actually more than we normally get for this camera so already this is kind of exciting and helps humans and animals as we learn to live together one camera alone on our trip captured over 400 images that's a lot of data you can help woodland park zoo study urban carnivores by going to carnivorespotter.org or if you want to report an urban carnivore in your neighborhood go to zoo.org
seattle carnivores now coming up next a stinky solution to studying rare animals stay tuned more to come on an inside look at woodland park zoo [Music] now we've learned how cameras are used to study carnivores in the city but the zoo is also using cameras in the mountains to study the rarest most elusive animals in the northwest hidden away in the depths of the cascade mountains important research is taking place dr robert long scales a tree to install a device called a ascent dispenser it's technology partially developed right here at woodland park zoo and put together by dedicated volunteers so we put these cameras out in the wild and we need something to attract animals to come so that we can get pictures and that's how we document where animals live where they travel and how they're distributed so we needed a way to attract animals in the winter here in the cascades a stinky problem with a stinky solution a device loaded with a foul-smelling liquid to attract meat-eating animals so this is the component that we worked on with microsoft and this is actually the brains of this scent dispenser device that we we developed it tells the scent dispenser how often to turn on and how much of this stinky liquid this fluid to dispense every time it turns on and it's pretty durable yep we tested it with our bear here at the zoo to make sure it was bear proof and inside here if you want to hold this this is the rest of the inside so you've got this control board this is a battery pack it's just regular lithium batteries okay on this side and then on the other side what you've got is this pouch that we fill with a liquid scent lure very stinky okay we need to get into that because you say stinky but how stinky is stinky it's pretty stinky i mean to a human it smells mostly like skunk because there are some elements of skunk oil in it the device has food grade antifreeze so that it can stay in the woods all winter and a little stink goes a long way animals come in to investigate and we get great photographs and so much more we also often deploy with the camera hair snagging devices and essentially what that is is in our case for wolverines we often use gun cleaning brushes or these little wire brushes and we mount them on the tree right under this scent dispenser and so when an animal climbs a tree it gets a little bit of its hair snagged on these brushes and that pulls it out and from those hair follicles at the end of those hairs we can get dna information and genetic information wolverines a big win for the cameras they're the biggest land dwelling member of the weasel family the animals went extinct in washington about 100 years ago but they've recovered partially because of individuals that came down from canada this is totally unbelievable wolverines have even been spotted on mount rainier photos tell dr long what animals have been there but what's not there can be just as important maybe it's places where it's close to a road maybe it's a place where trees have or haven't been cut recently and so we can start to build these maps based on variables in the environment helps us predict what's important for animals what is wolverine habitat sure and then also how do they move through areas because connections between protected areas and and good habitat is as important as anything especially now with climate change now the zoo is sharing its technology they're currently being used in a seven state wolverine survey across all the western states in the name of research and saving animals it's really going to change how we survey for some of these rare species that are difficult to get to and detect and how we can survey for multiple species at the same time technology being developed right here is being used thousands of miles away in the study of the rare tree kangaroos deep in the forests of papua new guinea live tree kangaroos dr lisa debeck senior conservation scientist and director of woodland park zoo's tree kangaroo conservation program studies this rare marsupial they're relatives of the kangaroos most of us know but they live high up in the trees hidden from most humans new technology like these gps collars help observe their behavior and track how they spend their days and nights oh amari you are so sweet dr daybeck has been studying them for more than 30 years and it is very difficult to study them in the wild they're elusive you can't find them they're high up in the canopy 100 feet off the ground so we had to find ways to be able to study them traditional trackers didn't show the climb into the trees and that meant researchers like lisa still had a lot of questions about how the tree roos lived it is a real challenge because gps colors don't work very well in the rainforest so we worked with an engineer from microsoft doug bonham and he developed a special gps collar that would work in the canopy measuring how they really climb because knowing how far and how high the tree roots go can help save them and that really helps us in determining how best to protect forest so what size do we need for a protected area it really informs us in terms of making conservation decisions like every new piece of technology the gps colors come with their own set of challenges like battery life and spotty service we tested it here and then we actually put collars on one of our tree kangaroo animals here at woodland park zoo so that she could test it we wanted to make sure that it wouldn't hurt the animal that they could move around that they wouldn't get caught in anything and the tree fingers here basically proved that they were good to go in the wild and it's not your kind of gps that could be used on your phone or in your car things with good responses this tracking system is much more elevated if you know what i mean we could see exactly where she was going in the forest and also we could see that she had favorite trees the team added motion sensors on the collars and elevation motion sensors to track the kangaroos up and down so that we could tell how high up in the tree the animals are and that's really important to get a sense of how are they spending their time and how do they use the trees and the forest what you're seeing now are the older colors they were used early on in this study new versions are more aerodynamic we are also looking at perhaps putting cameras so remotely triggered video cameras that will point to the favorite trees now that we know they have favorite trees we can actually videotape their behavior without us being there so really the technology the use of technology in the field for research for animal behavior it's like putting together pieces of a puzzle yes even more technology so we put cameras on the animals because we can't film them because they are so aware of us so a collar very similar to this and this one video clip was a tree kinker that was up at about a hundred feet and it was eating orchids and i showed it to our local team member and he said oh my gosh i had no idea they ate that orchid species so we learned a lot from that so that's another piece of technology and we were the first to use critter cam on an arboreal or tree living animal they had done a lot on marine mammals but we did it on three kangaroos and it worked the keepers at woodland park zoo helped create the high-tech critter cam callers what's so great about woodland park zoo and working based at a zoo can think about things and get the input from the different perspectives so the veterinarian perspective the animal keeper perspective so that's what i love about being based here at whitman park zoo [Music] [Music] animals from all over the world call the zoo home some come from tropical climates others come from dry desert climates but it's all about the right heat and humidity to keep these animals healthy let's take a look at the komodo dragons and how technology at the zoo keeps the largest heaviest lizards in the world comfortable the komodo dragons are a fan favorite at the zoo and it's easy to see why they're huge they smell the air with their tongues they're very different from the wildlife you find in the northwest they're far from their semi-tropical home in indonesia where it's a lot warmer than the chile pacific northwest this is our graph for our komodo dragon exhibit here is the command center that keeps them happy komodo dragons they like it at 80 plus degrees it looks like the control room of starship enterprise this is where john borgmeyer interim senior manager of exhibits and maintenance monitors the climate controls for all of the exhibits this is the last six hours of it you'll see the down on the left side it's 83 and a half degrees at about two inches off the floor these carnivorous reptiles look like they can handle just about anything they can grow up to be 10 feet long they can tip the scale at a whopping 330 pounds but these rounded nose lizards need the right conditions to thrive we monitor the temperatures and humidity in there to make sure that their environments are just right for them the dragon's old exhibit was 20 years old and that wasn't hitting the temperatures and environment zookeepers wanted so the dragons got an upgrade if you've walked past but the komodas are much more active than they were two years ago and it's just a much better exhibit for them and we're really pleased with it the zoo went across the pond to make that happen turning to siemens a german technology company they make high-tech building management systems this tracks the temperature of the animal exhibits like you see on the screen making sure the dragons stay warm and happy but it's not as easy as going to the wall and adjusting the thermostat it's a little more complicated it is about figuring out where you want that temperature to be making sure you get it there and then allowing the brilliance of all the engineers that work at siemens and all of these other companies to come in and figure out how to do that most efficient efficiently animal keepers noticed before renovations that the temperatures in the dragon exhibit were too warm and the dragons were less active now the environment can be regulated and the dragons are more active more activity and more movement generally means the animals are more healthy and happy you can see the the graph here right now it fluctuates a little bit but you're looking at that graph and that's fluctuating between 47 and 37 it's relative humidity so the humidity changes with the temperature the amount of moisture in the air so that humidity level changes and we've got to be able to maintain that in the komodo exhibit we have a whole system based solely around providing the humidity that's another technology partner we work work with it that's it's called a me fog system it is also in our tropical rainforest building and it's also not a set it and forget it but it's a pretty high-tech version of supply and humidity to the komodos this looks like a little microphone hello it is a little microphone but it tells you what the temperature and the humidity is in an exhibit and so that's the temperature and humidity sensor and this is a plain old temperature sensor okay so we're if i was to go to the kimono dragon exhibit are these in the floor those are in uh your average electrical box okay that is mounted on the wall that you as a visitor would not see but they are tucked away right in there we use a thermal compound and glue it to the metal face of that box so we get good heat transfer since the komodo dragon is an excellent climber the sensors are about 10 feet off the ground behind something where visitors won't see it staff is still able to get good results from the readings and it's out of the dragon's reach the southeastern indonesian dragons love the heat and we know living in the northwest doesn't provide much of that heat lamps as well as led lamps are scattered amongst the exhibit to give much needed warmth to the lizard bellies it might seem simple but it takes a team and a lot of technology to help these big lizards live their best life and thank you for joining us for another behind the scenes look at the technology here at woodland park zoo now we have plenty more this season and you can watch previous seasons as well at kyro7.com zoo i hope you had fun and i hope you learned something i'm tracy taylor [Music] you
2022-05-30