Out of Sight out of Mind - Camera Traps to uncover the small mammal community of Denmark

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Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Worsøe Havmøller R, Nørgaard Konradsen S (2025). Out of Sight out of Mind - Camera Traps to uncover the small mammal community of Denmark. Version 1.1. Natural History Museum of Denmark. Metadata dataset. https://ipt.danbif.dk/resource?r=outofsight&v=1.1

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The publisher and rights holder of this work is Natural History Museum of Denmark. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: a22711bc-655f-43be-933b-783142b0c3db.  Natural History Museum of Denmark publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by DanBIF - Danish Biodiversity Information Facility.

Keywords

Samplingevent; observation; camera traps; wildlife monitoring; mammals; Samplingevent

Contacts

Geographic Coverage

Deployment of camera traps cover large parts of Denmark. Camera traps were set up in 13 different study areas varying in habitat heterogeneity, anthropogenic disturbance and seasonality of sampling.

Project Data

Out of Sight out of mind – camera traps to uncover the small mammal community of Denmark reveals the data from an extensive camera trap study. The study aimed at testing a novel, non-invasive, low-cost method of monitoring small mammals. During 2021-2024 a total of 202 camera traps were deployed in 13 different study areas throughout Denmark. The study used novel camera trapping techniques specifically designed for capturing small mammals (< 2 kg). Cameras were placed inside boxes that were modified from the original Mostela camera trap box designed by Dutch researchers (1, 2). A cut-through PWC drainpipe functions as a tracking tunnel allowing the animals to enter the box and be captured by the camera. All camera traps used were Cuddeback G-5048, using a xenon flash and set to take photos as fast as possible when triggered and re-triggered. Cameras were set to continuously sample throughout the deployment period. The resultant dataset consists of more and 150000 photos annotated to species level. Annotation was done manually in the open-access software Wild.ID v.1.0.2 (San Diego Supercomputer Center & Wildlife Insights, 2019). The dataset presented here has been cleaned of blanks and photos taken during setup and pickup of cameras. The extensive dataset allows for multiple analyses to be performed.

Sampling Methods

Cameras were set up covering 13 different study areas in Denmark. Cameras were deployed in different gross habitat types, and with varying amount of types per study area. Cameras were deployed at varying times of the year to cover all seasons. Photos were either retrieved at the end of deployment period or periodically during deployment period, at which times batteries were also checked and changed if needed.

Method step description:

1. We deployed Cuddeback G-5048 at all sites. Cameras use a xenon flash, and were set to take a photo as soon as possible when triggered and re-triggered. Cameras were deployed within modified boxes inspired by the Mostela, as described in the paper by Dutch researchers Mos & Hofmeester 2020. Upon retrieval of photos from the field all photos were manually annotated to species level if possible, alternatively to genus level.

Additional Metadata