By Kat Holmes
The SafariSpy camera trap was recently borrowed by Dr. Richard Meissner, a local researcher who had never used a camera trap before. He placed the camera trap in his garden which lies next to a game reserve. All kinds of visitors cross into his garden including small mammals, birds and even spitting cobras! Let’s see what he captured with our camera trap…
First up he captured a fantastic shot of a yellow mongoose sneaking past the fence.
The yellow mongoose is quite a common small mammal, which is found throughout Southern Africa. They are often seen on their own, like this individual, but can also occur in pairs. Yellow mongoose primarily feed on insects, but may also hunt spiders, rodents, reptiles and birds. They live in burrow networks and may share these with other small mammal species such as ground squirrels and meerkats. This odd behaviour is thought to lead to greater levels of vigilance and therefore protection from predators.
Richard also captured a common house cat, but this one is worth a special mention… Richard is convinced this is his old family pet who disappeared three years ago and was presumed dead! The camera trap revealed that the cat is very much alive, looks like it has a new loving home and obviously continues to visit its old home in secret.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1z2gzPHM4A
Thanks Richard for taking the camera trap and making these discoveries. South Africa is now coming out of the winter season and Richard thinks there will be more visitors in the Summer.
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