On 28 February 2011 The Huffington Post reported that camera traps had taken photos of rare Javan rhinos in Ujung Kulon National Park, Indonesia. This is significant since the images show mothers with young, confirming successful breeding.
New Photographic Techniques
Whenever new technology is deployed in the wild there is the possibility of making new discoveries.
Night vision camera traps recently discovered a hitherto unknown species of cat-sized elephant shrew in Tanzania in 2005, and cameras working from remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) showed images of worms feeding on dead whale carcasses at the bottom of Monterey Bay in 2010.
High speed cinematography can slow down animal behaviour, and time-lapse techniques can show processes that occur too slowly for us to notice under normal circumstances.
Extending Human Sense Range to Study Nature
We humans have evolved a range of senses that have helped us to survive:
- Our vision is equipped to see things that help us find food and avoid danger, and since we were originally active only during the day our night vision is poor. Image enhancement techniques have allowed us to peer into the dark.
- Humans can only see in the 'visible spectrum', but there is much information to be had at different wavelengths. Many animals see a different world from ours, but using infra-red photography (and also going to ultra-violet and beyond) has allowed us to glimpse a world we are not normally aware of.
- Some animals have senses that are totally different from anything we possess, and it is only with the help of specialised equipment that we can be aware of magnetic fields and electric currents (for example).
- Human hearing is good, but only sophisticated recordings allow bat echo-location and whale sonar to be appreciated fully.
Javan Rhinos
The Javan Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus) is a very rare and endangered animal, with only 50 or so thought to survive in the wild. The recent photographic evidence of successful breeding in Ujung Kulon National Park brings a little hope that the species might be able to survive, but it is till threatened by illegal hunting because the horn is used in traditional Chinese medicines, and by illegal logging and forest clearance by farmers and palm oil plantation companies.
This recent sighting of a rare animal might prove to be one of the last as habitat destruction severely threatens a small population.
