Alejandro Valenzuela, one of Argentina’s otter experts, joined Ocean Tramp and Quixote Expeditions in November to place the first camera traps on Isla de los Estados to help better understand if there were otters on the island, what types, what were their habits, etc. Ocean Tramp returned in January and was able to download videos from 4 out of the 5 sites. When Ale got this data in January he was already able to make some conclusions about otters and the videos had other uses. Not only did they tell Ale about the otters (of which they told some surprising things), but also the videos captured all types of wildlife on the island, especially birds and rats. The videos of the birds have been able to help confirm some suspected, but not confirmed sightings of specific birds. The videos also captured quite a few rats, which may help scientists better quantify the problem of rats on the Island.
The results from the January expedition gave Ale enough data to be able to present them at an upcoming international biology conference – the International Congress for Conservation Biology 2017, held this year in Colombia.
Ocean Tramp leaves on a trip tomorrow for Isla de los Estados where we will attempt to visit all 5 cameras. We will download the images and get the cameras ready for the long winter, by replacing batteries in the cameras!