Brush Tailed Possum - Refining Sound Lures

We have recently been further experimenting with the final deployment set up.  We continue to test the solar panels which have now been left out in semi-shade conditions long term - this is showing that the unit is remaining fully charged and operating as expected, despite the fact that it is not in full sun, which was the case with the smaller panels.    

Our revised sound profile and speaker combination have meant that the focus for now is very much on the Brush Tailed Possum.   We have returned again to the first deployment site to test out these new combinations and again are seeing extremely encouraging result.  We are continuing to run long term deployments on two other locations and are about to expand to a third.    At deployment site one with the unit in place we are seeing significant nightly brush tailed possum activity - this is something that we have not seen previously at this location.

At present we have had three consecutive nights of possums interacting with the speaker or at the location where the speaker is operating, this is in contrast to the previous twelve months of activity where we have seen possums at a rate of once a fortnight.   

We are again seeing evidence of the possums interacting directly with the unit and the speakers themselves.   They are currently able to do this because this version of the deployment has the unit seperate from the trap, altough we have already modified our set up to take this into account.   

We have also deployed a live capture cage at this location, combining it with the sound lure and intend to monitor how effective this will be.

It is currently the school holidays in New Zealand so the students involved in this project are currently on their summer break.   We will return to regular posting and development during January.

 

Early Promising Results: Curious Minds Possum Project

We have completed some early results in two locations on our Curious Minds Possum Project.   The results to start with, appear to be very positive.   This is with the new sound profile that is being used - our sound lures are remaining during the day and activating at night when the solar panel detects a lowering of the light level.

When this occurs the computer controlling the device starts to operate with the unit emitting a variety of possum sounds which are played at one minute interval.   We have Browning Trail Cameras located to record the interactions with animals at both the locations with and without the sound lures.   This is providing invaluable data as to what is happening at these locations, as instead of the traps providing 'capture' or kill data we can assess the importance or value of the sound lures (or otherwise).    

At our first farm deployment in September.    While the non-sound lure site has remained constant and included 17 pest animals during the course of a month.   On the sound lure site the rat version of the soundlure saw numerous levels of rat activity (and five removals).  There were numerous possum activations, although these tended to be singular and in passing.    Moving the sound lure onto the top of the box resulted in eight Possum activiations during a week.   Following this we removed the sound lure from the locations but kept the cameras in place to monitor activty - this resulted in significant reduced possum activity.   Instead of seeing eight possums in a week in the following two weeks four possums were sited.  Basic mathematics expected us to see four possums and it was half that - there was also a significant relative number of change in activations.   While this is a pleasing indication it should be acknowledge that this is a small sample size and we need to continue to deploy at this location and monitor the results of what we are going to be able to record.

At the second location on another local farm which has just started results have already been significant between the sound lure and non sound lure location.   At the non sound lure site during a two week period there were thirty eight activations from seven possum activations.   At the sound lure site on the same farm there have been thirty three possums recorded during a four day time frame and a hundred activations.   Again these results need to be viewed in the context of the length of time that the data is being gathered this is a small sample of a long term project to track these results.   We will continue to publish and update these results as they are collected.

Possum Sound Lure: Further Developments

 

We are now running our final trials with our Possum focussed sound lure.   It is being deployed and remaining silent during the day, activating when the light level starts to drop.  It is not being activated by being in shade, and first indications by changing our solar panel is that the new panel will run the unit in shade conditions.

While it is possible that there will be some minor adjustments most likely this is our final unit.

We have had some promising initial results, in the first few days we've had a brush tailed possum move to the sound lure site and interact with the sound lure, while ignoring the baited trap - including pulling the sound lure down from the box it was located on (as shown in the two photographs on the left.   While this is promising this is only the first result from a long term deployment, where we will be monitoring the process and progress at a number of South Taranaki locations.

While we have experienced instances of brush tailed possums already we are continuing to see significant rat activity at this site as well - the unit is now playing exclusively possum focussed noise where it was previously playing a combination of rat and other noises.

Will be monitoring this deployment for a considerable time moving forward.

Possum Sound Lure: Final Prototype

 

Today we've finally completed the coding and design of the Possum version of our sound lure.   This is going to target brush tailed possums locally in Taranaki.   

We are very fortunate to have the support of Venture Taranaki and the Curious Minds Project as part of this process who have been invaluable in assisting with funding to ensure this project goes ahead.

While the desgin of the unit is familiar to regular visitors to this blog there are some key differences between this unit and early versions, or the version that we are currently using to target Stoats and other pests.

Firstly we have significantly altered the code with regards to this version - this version of the unit remains silent during daylight hours (while it is charging) and will only start to activate at night, once the solar panel detects that the light level is 'night'.   This is of course because Possums are a nocturnal animal.   

Secondly the sound profile that is being played is exclusively possum related, rather than the generic version that we have been using to this point which has had a range of noises.   While it has shown clearly that possums appear to be attracted towards a range of noise we want to specifically see if there are sounds which are going to encourage possums more than others.   Our first batch of sounds are a range of possum noises that have been either supplied to us or available online that we've been able to adapt.   

Finally we have made our first technical change in nearly a year of our initial set ups.  We have significantly upgraded the solar panel that we are using with the unit.   Our first deploymenets involved using several different units, the main unit that we used was a Solar Panel that was 5v and 1.2w.   We were also running other versions of the lure with slightly larger units to see if we could get the balance right between charging the unit successfully and producing a cost effective way to do so.    While we felt the units were charging successfully we also were monitoring the unit in semi-shade conditions and the solar panles ability to be robust when faced with windy conditions.    We have made attempts to design ways to ensure the panel is attatched to the unit or produce seperate housing for it.   It should also be noted that the original panels that are still in use have been deployed outside for a full calendar year and are still working as expected with minimum protection for them.

Curious Minds: Final Preparation

 We are about to return to school for the start of the final term for 2020.   During the past month we have been awaiting for electronics delivery of the equipment needed to complete our sound lures for the Curios Minds part of our project targetting Possums.

In preparation for this we have been running a final deployment phase with the equipment that we will be using during the project to check its viability etc.   We have maintained two sites at a local farm, one containing a sound lure with Timms Possum trap and rat boxes, and a second site which contains a standard Timms Possums trap (both are ground mounted) and a rat box.

For the past month we have been logging the activity based on the activations at the traps and by using Browning Trail Cameras that are motivation activated to tell us what is happening where the units are deployed.   We have made some adjustments to the deployment at each site - both of which are bordering the river that is featured in deployment site one, on the other side to this location.

At the non sound lure site after a month we have had 76 image activations from 17 pest animals and two domestic cat activations.    We have had two rats removed by a box trap at the location.   We have experimented with using apple, lemon and the Timms trap has not been activated, although bait has been removed from the unit.    There is clear possum activity at this location and the number of image activations has been up to twenty at the site of the tree.

By contrast at the sound lure site we have had sixty activations from 32 pest animals including hedgehogs, possums and rats.   There have been five rats removed at this location, one hedgehog and one mouse.    These animals have caused sixty image activations on the cameras.   

However - there is a significant deployment change that occurred in the week from 4/10/2020 to the 11/10/2020.    Until this point the sound lure that was deployed as part of this set up was placed inside the rat box, with the intention of seeing if it would encourage rats to enter the box.      For the last week it was decided to instead place the lure on top of the rat box as this it was believed would cause the sound to be significantly greater.

This would appear to have had a significant impact on the activations at this location.   

Prior to this the target species of Brush Tailed Possums had appeared five times for single activations.   Rats were dominating the activations at the site.   

The week when the unit was switched to the top of the rat box (as shown) there were eight possum activations and thirty activations from the cameras as the possums were active in the trap location and remained at the location during the activations of the sound lure.   

There were multiplication activations including a pair of Possums and possums showing interest in the different traps/lures on display (although there was not any setting off of the traps).   The rats which had been so prevelant during the first three weeks of deployment were not active.

In contrast at Deployment Site One, on the other side of the river there have been limited interactions all of which have centred around rats.

We will continue to monitor both sites moving forward as this is a pleasing indication that the lure is showing promise if used in the right situations.  We also need to look at modifying the sound which is part of the deployment so it is focussed on Possums or rats rather than the generic sound pattern that we are currently using for the test purposes (which still includes for instance the original stoat profile which we have been using for a year).   

Also of note the unit that is being deployed at site two is the original unit which is approaching nearly a year in deployment.   This unit is featuring an original solar panel, wiring and speaker which has been left in outside conditions for a full calendar year.   The unit is still operating as anticipated without showing any damage from the elements.

Curious Minds Possum Project: Week Two Preparation

 

This week we completed a second trial week based around the upcoming Curious Minds Possum Project.   This involved determining the best settings for the trail cameras, to ensure the balance between recording data at a manageable level and recording what is happening.  We have been experimenting with a ten second delay and thirty second delay.   While we are not tracking Stoats for this particular project it should be noted that we would be looking at a one second delay which would be required based on the speed of the animal.    This would also mean as a consequence we would have a significant number of images each day as the wind or branches/trees moving would activate the camera.

In the first two weeks at the location where there is not a sound lure there has been significant possum activity including a possum that has twice removed the bait (a lemon and pear) from inside the trap without activating the trap.     This appears to be at a significant possum traffic site.

At the site where the sound lure is located there has been significant rat activity including three rats that have been trapped at the location in a rat box (that housed the sound lure).   This has been in contrast to the other side of the river (deployment site one) where there has been rat activity but not trapping for a considerable time.

While there are less images from this location at present we have been experimenting with the activation time and also the bait situation.   We will eventually ensure that both set ups are identical including every aspect of the deployment to ensure that we are conducting fair testing to measure the sound lures effectiveness.

Phase Two: Curious Minds Project Possum Focus

 

Recently we have experienced some challenging times as we await for technology for the start of the Curious Minds Possum Project aspect of our work.  Due to international circumstances some of the resources that we require for our project launch has been delayed, although we are expecting it in the immediate future.

In the meantime we continue to work with a number of partners who are deploying sound lures with a mustlelid focus.   You can read about this aspect of our work here.

Today we started the next phase of our Possum project.   We have deployed out final phase of test projects, putting a Timms Possum trap in a deployed area with a sound lure, currently contained within a rat box with a t-rex trap immediatetly adjacent to it.    We have both covered by a trail camera to record interactions with the unit (as shown above) and placed it in an area that is located on a local farm, in an area of bush that borders a river.    This is a similar location to deployment site one, detailed on this blog, but it on the other side of the river.

Trapping from the local farmer at this location has indicated that there are Brush Tailed Possums in the area.   There also have been other pest species including Hedgehogs, Rats and Ferrets.   We will be closely monitoring this deployment and have a secondary trap that is located a significant distance from the sound lure.   We are also monitoring this trap with a trail camera so that we can log the interactions and look at the two differences between the two seperate deployments.

Following this trial we will start rolling this set up out to the local South Taranaki locations.

Project Update: July 2020

Thank you again to Venture Taranaki for the funding support

While we have not made any releases since the announcement of the Curious Minds Funding for the Project in 2020 we now are approaching an exciting stage in the project.

We've continued to expand the placement of units throughout the country for the pest project and have units in several locations in the South Island, including now the Mackenzie Country and soon to the West Coast of the South Island.

We also have just had (pictured) the resources arrived for the Curious Minds Possum Trapping Project.   This will allow the students from Auroa Primary School to produce the Possum Units which are part of our 2020 Curious Minds Application/Project.   We will be pushing out approximately fifty units to the wider community for recording of data and information gathering. 

Very soon we will start our farm deployment locally with our first test site.

We also are running units locally, including the original unit which was first put outside in November, it is approaching a years external (outside) service with no indication of any technical difficulties as a result of the weather.

Finally we are continuing with our New Plymouth Aiport deployment.   We have now had three units been deployed successfully for a month.   While these were responsible for catching a stoat within 48 hours of deployment and numerous mice since then we are going to look at refining the trap set up and baiting of the stations.

We will continue to post updats to this blog as they occur and expect there to be significant developments in this area shortly.

Curious Minds Projects 2020 - Taranaki Funding

We are very proud to annouce that we have been granted significant funding from Venture Taranaki to spend a year researching sound lures specific to possums in our local environment.

This is a huge boost for our sound lure project moving forward which will allow us to operate at a regional level with a significant project over the next twelve months.   It will mean that we will be able to link and network with a variety of organisations and individuals regionally and also potentially bring a huge audience to this project and work. 

We are extremely greatful for this support and funding as it will allow this project to continue to expand and progress regionally.  There will be further announcements about this moving forward.

In addition to our Curious Minds Project we are continuing to develop our use of sound lures to target additional creatures - mustlelids and rats are a focus for our deployment at New Plymouth Airport.

This development has four of our units deployed at the airport which took place in late June 2020.   In the first week of deployment, within the first forty-eight hours there were two activations including the capture of a stoat. 

This is hugely significant as this is the first Stoat captured at the airport despite extensive and detailed trapping over a considerable time.    The second checking of the traps two days later revealed that there were three mice in the traps.

We are continuing to explore interest from other groups and organisations who would like to trail the technology throughout the region and nationally.   If you would be intereested in doing so and have not yet made contact with us you can do so by emailing the project at myles.webb@gmail.com.