A non-invasive approach to measuring body dimensions of wildlife with
camera-traps: a felid field trial.
Abstract
Dimensions of body size are an important measurement in animal ecology,
though they can be difficult to obtain due to the effort and cost
associated with the invasive nature of these measurements. We avoid
these limitations by using camera-trap images to derive dimensions of
animal size. To obtain measurements of object dimensions using this
method, the size of the object in pixels, the focal length of the
camera, and the distance to that object must be known. We describe a
novel approach of obtaining the distance to the object through the
creation of a portable distance marker, which, when photographed,
creates a “reference image” to determine the position of the animal
within an image. This method allows for the retrospective analysis of
existing datasets and eliminates the need for permanent in-field
distance markers. We tested the accuracy of this methodology under
controlled conditions with objects of known size resembling Felis catus,
our study species, validating the legitimacy of our method of size
estimation. We then apply our method to measure feral cat body size
using images collected in Tasmania, Australia. The precision of our
methodology was evaluated by comparing size estimates across individual
cats, revealing consistent and reliable results. The average height
(front paw to shoulder) of the feral cats sampled was 25.25 cm (CI =
24.4, 26.1) and the average length (base of tail to nose) was 47.48 cm
(CI = 46.0, 48.9), suggesting wild feral cats in our study area are no
larger than their domestic counterparts. Given the success of its
application within our study, we call for further trails with this
method across a variety of species.