We have continuously monitored the Santa Lucía Cloud Forest Reserve with camera traps now since 2016. Initially the project was co-funded by CONDESAN, but has been a Santa Lucía only undertaking since mid-2018. We are - however - very thankful to all those who have donated cameras throughout those years, so that we could keep the operative costs of the project for ourselves as low as possibe.
So, what do the 2024 data look like? Here are some basics:
In total 11 locations within the Santa Lucía Cloud Forest Reserve were monitored with a total 2.129 days. Since we use some older equipment (cameras and batteries) very few sites actually have data of 366 days from last year.
The most photographed non-human animal was - as always - our dear friend the White-throated Quail-Dove (Zentrygon frenata). That bird accounts for more than 20% of all animal observations of the camera traps. At some point some should do some research into the camera-affinity of those Quail-Doves.
The five most commonly photographed mammals were:
Tayra (Eira barbara)
Nine-banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus)
Andean Bear (Tremarctos ornatus)
Puma (Puma concolor)
Andean White-eared Opossum (Didelphis pernigra)
The Tayra and the Opossum are a little higher up than usually, but otherwise the "charts" are not different from many other years before.
On the very positive side we would like to mention the appearance of the Collared Peccary (Dicotyles tajacu) and the Little Red-Brocket (Mazama rufina). We are very happy with the confirmation of their presence in our reserve.
The number of observations of the Red-Brocket Deer (Mazama americana) has been low to zero since 2020, when the population collapsed probably due to overhunting. We are still worried about the very low numbers of direct observations as well as observations in camera traps, but at the same time we are relieved that there are observations at all. There have been years when Red-Brocket Deer was not seen at all in the region.
We are also a little worred about the Spotted Cats (Leopardus sp.). The Northern Tiger Cat (Leopardus pardinoides) - formerly thought to be L. tigrinus - was one of the most commonly photographed mammals back in 2016 - 2019 and while the numbers seem to be stable now they are somewhat lower than they used to be. The Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) which also had some very strong years in camera traps was only observed once in 2024.
The tendency to more observations of mid-sized to large mammals in camera traps during the second part of the years has been confirmed once more in 2024
The project will continue in 2025 and thanks to Fiona Mathew of the University of Sussex, who donated new cameras, might even be extended. We are thinking about trying out one or two new location on the extreme ends of the reserve to catch a few more rarities. Speaking of which 2025 already brought a pleasent surprise, namely observations of the Culpeo (Lycalopex culpaeus) in the camera traps in the upper part of the reserve.
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