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| Megan Martin, a staff scientist at PDXWildlife, with the high-performance IP camera system |
The Giant Panda’s current reproductive rate of one birth every two years has driven captive breeding programs to closely monitor and record the endangered species’ breeding techniques. Known for losing interest in mating upon captivity, researchers have gone to great lengths to better understand why this is the case. PDXWildlife, a small conservation team of scientists with the Oregon Zoo, had planned on travelling to China to study the reproductive habits of the Giant Panda. Thanks to the advanced IP camera system designed by VideoSurveillance.com, PDXWildlife would be able to both study and record the Giant Pandas.
It began when PDXWildlife approached VideoSurveillance.com for its proven knowledge in designing custom security solutions. As one of the leading experts in network cameras, VideoSuveillance.com stepped in and created a high-performance outdoor day/night IP camera system to help PDXWildlife monitor and record the Giant Pandas. The cameras have already been installed and are presently in use at the Bifengxia Panda Reserve in Ya’an China.
Megan Martin, a staff scientist at PDXWildlife, expressed her enthusiasm about her research role in finding out why pandas’ breeding behaviour changes once in captivity. “I am excited to do a comparison of behaviours during human management hours versus after hours to see the effects of human interactions on breeding behaviours.”
For this project, VideoSurveillance.com designed an effective point-to-point wireless surveillance system to address the distinct needs of the panda reserve. Once configured, VideoSurveillance.com shipped the custom-designed network video system to China for implementation. The network video cameras are able to fully function in Ya’an’s hot, humid, and rainy climate, and offer high resolution 1 MP images that give researchers clear views of both daytime and night-time panda activity. At 30 frames per second, the cameras deliver extremely detailed video at maximum frame rate, a huge benefit to researchers viewing the footage.
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The cameras’ LED IR illuminators produce high-quality video in low-light environments, making them ideal for recording the habits of animals after nightfall. The wildlife reserve does not have overnight keepers, so panda behaviour recorded between 4:00 pm and 8:00 am was crucial. Because pandas only mate once a year, it was essential for the IP cameras to have day/night functionality.
According to Martin, camera surveillance has had a significant impact on the study of these beautiful, yet mystifying creatures: “After-hours viewing also gives me flexibility with my research because the behavioural estrous of female pandas often comes on quite suddenly and if we were unable to hand record behaviours from the day before, we still have this data caught on video that we can then analyse.''
