Final Phase of Curious Minds Data Gathering

We are undertaking the final aspect of our Curious Minds data gathering process.  As part of this process we are running sound lures on multiple sites in South Taranaki on local farms.  At each of the farm locations we have sound lures working in conjunction with a Timms trap as well as a non-sound lure location with identical baiting.   We are intending to deploy for several months and will be monitoring eight sites in total.  At least some of these locations will be covered by trail cameras and some sites will rely on the count of possums that are recorded.   This trial will be featured on a trap.nz project and this will be made available for data gathering purposes.  We also have a number of images that have been gathered from recent deployments.

We have again shown clear evidence of the interactions that are occurring between possums and possums that are deceased and have been trapped.   There is considerable post trapping activity that is taking place with behaviour and mating.   This is important because it is underlining the important potential link between the sound lure and using other possum noises to attract additional possums.   We are thinking that the sound of a distressed possum would prove to be enticing based around the anecdotal evidence that we have been gathering.   Currently we have been concentrating on the units creation and proof of concept testing - we are considering that the sound has been able to draw possums in - and this would appear to be even more of a consideration when looking at stoats and other animals.

We are looking to complete the project in the next few months, when we have gathered the final data from the project the school aspect of the project and our Curious Minds Project will be completed.

We will continue to investigate the use of the sound lures to attract target pests and continue to investigate possibilities in the future although the project has final report deadlines to be produced.  If you would like to contact us prior to the conclusion of the project please do so via email as soon as possible.
 

Possum Activity and Interactions (Updated) June 2021

 

We are continue to monitor activity on a variety of local farm locations involving brush tailed possums, sound lures and interactions.

It is continuing to reinforce what we have been seeing recently over time and at a variety of locations - that the sound lures are proving effective at drawing possums to an area where we have been able to deploy Timms possums traps, which are now working effectively, with a number of successful catpures.

We are seeing that the springing of a trap is not proving to be a hinderance to additional possum activirty, if anything we are seeing heightened activity when there is a deceased animal in the trap, with numerous possum interactions with the dead animal.   

We believe that there is clear evidence that the lure, picture left, is drawing animals towards the areas of the lure, they are not frightened by the lure when in its vicinity (as evidence by the lure operating while they are present) and additional animals are being brought into the area once the first animal has been caught.   We have also recently seen the arrival of the New Zealand Hawk which has been feeding on possums that have been caught in the traps.   While this is not a focus for our investigation of sound lures it is proving some striking imagery.

Hawks in New Zealand are not considered a pest bird and while they are not a focus of our investigation we have seen then several times as part of our work - and them feeding potentially on trapped possums is safer for the animals than feeding on roadkill.

We have stated recently that we are going to be producing our final set of data for this project and essentially winding it down - we will be publishing our full results as we continue both this investigation and the stoat work that we have been looking at.

Possum Activity - Recent Notable Incidents

 

The following series of incidents and images are from a local student who has been experimenting with the sound lure on their local farm and using it in conjunction with a Timms trap.   As part of this sequence a possum is visible in the first photograph on the left.  The possum investigates the area around where the trap is set and then activates the trap.

In this incident the sound lure was adjacent to the trap not inside the trap as is in some local deployed variation.

Following this successfull pest removal there was heighten actvity at the site as a number of possums interacated at the trap site.    During this time the sound lure was still operating and additional possums were arriving at the sight (this has been witnessed before at various locations locally).

There were also additional activations from two other animals of note during the monitoring timeframe.   

The first of which, shown in the third picture, is of a feral cat that was pulled into the activation area and spent time investigating the site and the location.  

While we are not targetting feral cats at this location and it is not outside of the realms of possibility that the sound lure is responsible for this visit (it has been evident on numerous locations throughout trials that feral cats are showing interest in the noise being generated from the boxes or the sound lure).

The final photograph in the series shows a visit from a Hawk to a location on the same farm where another possum has been caught using a Timms trap with a sound lure in operation.

Shortly on this site we will be running a prolonged trial involving a double blind set up to montior and measure the effectiveness of the sound lure.

Solving the Mystery of Missing Eggs

As part of our ongoing project working on sound lures we are also looking at opportunities to use the technology involved in the project to engage with the students of our community and our community.  In this instance on a local farm where we have started the final possum trial and deployment the farmer had another issue, the dissapearance of duck eggs belonging to some farm animals.    While we were reconfiguring the possum sound lure we took the opportunity to use the cameras for tracking at the sound lure locations to solve the 'mystery' of the missing eggs.    We also went through a process of identifying with the students what could be going on, what animals could be involved etc.   

The ducks themselves were not attacked by the animals that were responsible for breaking of the eggs.  Whatever it was, was leaving the ducks alone and targetting their eggs.   The farmer placed some additional chicken eggs in the location where the ducks eggs 

The images from the camera were able to identify two possible explanations.   The first is shown in the night pictures from the area.  A hedgehog can clearly be seen operating in the area.   There is the possibility that it was responsible for the initial damage to the eggs followed by the hawk feasting on them.

The second stunning set of images catches the hawk that can be seen breaking the eggs including picking the eggs up in its beak and walking around.   If this was the case it maybe that the hedgehog was incidental to the hawk which committed its act without any encouragement from the hedgehog.

Clearly the date and timestamp of the trail camera shows that this occurred during the morning which the farmer was unaware of.   In this instance we have not recorded any hawk activity in the prior year of experimenting with the sound lures - and in this instance the sound lures were not involved in the process.  

However it was a fantastic opportunity to involve students in the learning process.   To further our discussion about predators (for instance we had almost decided to discount stoats on the basis that whatever was taking the eggs was not attacking the ducks themselves which is something that we could expect to see if a stoat was responsible.   

We would once again like to thank the local farmers who are assisting with our process and allowing our students to have such fantastic learning experiences.