Correctly identifying wildlife from camera images can be challenging but, as with most things, becomes easier with practice. Over time and with some willing wildlife posers, you’ll learn how to use cues that go beyond the physical shape, colour and size of an animal to recognise the species in question. What posture is the animal in? Is it grooming, grazing or scent-marking? Does its fur look wet? Is it one individual of a larger group? These questions, along with any suggestions that Stickybeak might offer, can help narrow down which creature you may be looking at.
Unless you have a white-flash camera, most images you collect will be taken at night using infra-red. This can make identification particularly tricky because animals will appear as various shades of grey. Shading can be useful, though. For example, a distinguishing feature of the Bennett’s wallaby is a dark stripe down its face and black paws. Still images taken at night can also make it difficult to judge an animal’s size; a pademelon close up could be confused for a Bennett’s wallaby (if we didn’t have those shades of grey 😉). The size of an animal is best judged by comparing it to photos of other species taken in the same survey, from the same location.
Something that us humans have over artificial intelligence (so far…) is the ability to take into context the images preceding and following an observation record. If in a burst of 3-photos, Photo 1 is of an adorable eastern bettong, Photo 2 is a super blurry flash of grey, and Photo 3 is of a bettong still being adorable, then it is quite likely that number 2 was the same bettong mid-bounce. Use your judgement in how you assign a tag in WildTracker. Remember that Stickybeak will sometimes get it wrong as it doesn’t know the context of photos and has no sense of an animal’s size.
Unknowns
Even the most experienced camera-trapper can be stumped by a blurry photo or an unhelpful angle of a fluffy-bum. Animals might zoom past, leaving a ghostly blur, or appear so distant that only their eye-shine is visible. Stickybeak often assigns the ‘unknown’ tag when an animal is too close to the camera for clear identification.
If Stickybeak and this guide can’t help identify the species in your image, simply accept the Unknown tag or Ask an expert using the WildTracker classifier. Flagged photos will be periodically reviewed by ecologists from the Tasmanian Land Conservancy or skilled volunteers.
Naming Conventions
In this guide, we may present several names for a single species. First, the common name will be given for the animal as it is known in Tasmania (as opposed to mainland Australia). Second, the Latin or scientific name for the species will be given in italics. Then, with thanks to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, we provide animal names in palawa kani, the language of the Tasmanian Aborigines.