At least one persistently curious bear in Colorado wound up taking a massive amount of selfies thanks to a camera set up to monitor wildlife habitats.
Rangers in the city of Boulder’s Open Space and Mountain Parks department placed a series of cameras across some 46,000 acres to secretly observe local animals in the wild. They could bear-ly contain their glee when they discovered that about 400 of the 580 photos from one camera featured a very photogenic bruin, as OSMP tweeted earlier this week.
The cameras can gather massive amounts of information while reducing the time rangers spend in sensitive areas trying to observe wildlife, according to officials.
A “camera trap” snaps a photo each time its motion detector is set off. It grabs a still photo and can also capture videos of up to 30 seconds. The cameras use infrared light at night for nocturnal animals, according to a release on the city’s website.
“The motion-detecting cameras provide us a unique opportunity to learn more about how local species use the landscape around us while minimizing our presence in sensitive habitats,” said Will Keeley, an OSMP senior wildlife ecologist quoted in the release.
The cameras help OSMP staff identify important wildlife areas and help them “recommend habitat-protective measures to help protect sensitive natural areas,” Keeley added.
Cameras are positioned in wildlife corridors where rangers believe animals are likely to travel and where there are signs of their activity.
“Every day, scores of animal species furtively scurry across Boulder landscapes to search for food and to find resting places. Most often, no one — not even Boulder’s Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) staff — ever sees them,” the release noted.
“But sometimes OSMP staff is fortunate enough to get an up-close look at local wildlife … residing in their natural state,” thanks to the cameras, it states.
The cameras have also grabbed motion-activated videos of other wildlife, including bobcats, mountain lions, raptors, ducklings, coyotes, deer and foxes. None, however, appear to be as boldly and as persistently curious as the “selfie bear” who had the camera clicking.
Check out some other shots here: