See if you can spot the creature spying on an oblivious elk in this trail camera’s recording.<\/p>\n
Up-close footage of a grazing elk revealed something sinister, as a closer look showed a hunter hiding in the background: a bobcat.<\/p>\n
Facebook group Trail Camera Junkies shared a short video<\/a> of the remarkable encounter, highlighting just how much trail cameras can reveal about wildlife.<\/p>\n Trail cameras are one of many invaluable tools used by conservationists to study wildlife behavior and more accurately track populations, especially for nocturnal or elusive animals like beavers.<\/p>\n Other tools, such as GPS tags and trackers, can be helpful for mapping movements and migrations, but trail cameras offer a minimally invasive way to monitor animal behavior.<\/p>\n In some cases, trail cameras have captured reassuring footage of creatures considered extremely endangered or even locally extinct.<\/p>\n The Florida panther, for example, was nearly hunted to extinction, so researchers were shocked \u2014 and relieved \u2014 to discover trail camera footage of a mother panther and her three cubs in Florida.<\/p>\n While the Florida panther population is recovering, some species are not so lucky. Over 48,000 animals are considered threatened with extinction, per the IUCN Red List<\/a>.<\/p>\n Habitat loss is the most significant driver of extinction, with nearly all animals impacted in some form. Mass deforestation, industrial development, and rapid urbanization disrupt and destroy habitats worldwide.<\/p>\n According to the World Wildlife Fund<\/a>, there has been a “73% decline in the average size of monitored wildlife populations in just 50 years.”<\/p>\n Restoring, preserving, and protecting natural habitats can make a tremendous impact on endangered wildlife, and trail cameras help conservationists identify the areas and species of greatest concern.<\/p>\n If you want to help protect endangered species and restore habitats, consider donating money to climate causes<\/a>. You can also rewild your yard<\/a> by incorporating native plants, which provide food, shelter, and other beneficial resources for local wildlife.<\/p>\n Get TCD’s free newsletters<\/a> for easy tips to save more, waste less, and make smarter choices \u2014 and earn up to $5,000 toward clean upgrades in TCD’s exclusive Rewards Club<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"See if you can spot the creature spying on an oblivious elk in this trail camera’s recording. Up-close…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,47968,47962,201,23030],"class_list":{"0":"post-346040","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-trail-camera","10":"tag-trail-cameras","11":"tag-wildlife","12":"tag-wildlife-behavior"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}