Experts encouraged as trail cameras capture rare creatures along riverbank: 'One camera caught a pair'

One otter, another otter, and possibly a third one got their extreme close-ups recently in nighttime footage that was blurry but heartening, as it showed the elusive creatures in Israel, where they are considered seriously endangered.

Animal tracker Micha Hanuna caught the videos of the rare Eurasian otters, using motion-activated cameras in early June after finding "paw prints and poo" near a river, Haaretz reported.

"One camera caught a pair of otters climbing onto a rock and then going back into the water," Hanuna told the news outlet. "Another camera caught the same pair relieving themselves." 

Haaretz shared some of this footage online — possibly including a bit with an otter answering nature's call — and suggested that it was difficult to precisely count animals coming into and out of view.

The video is encouraging because it documents what appear to be healthy examples of a species that was once common but has become rare in the area. The threat factors include habitat loss, sewage and pesticide pollution, and hunting, as the Haaretz article detailed.

Recordings provide information that tracker Hanuna said is crucial to preserving healthy otter habitat. "With knowledge of where they are comfortable, their hotspots can be protected," Haaretz summarized.

Otters have historically been a key predator species in Israel's rivers and wetlands, per the report. Preserving habitats that are healthy for such species can mean keeping these habitats more broadly in balance — which can benefit humans as well as wildlife.

There is restorative work underway. Haaretz noted that Israel's Society for the Protection of Nature has launched a rewilding project to counter some of the effects of past wetland-draining efforts. And tunnels built under roads help otters avoid traffic.

The use of trail cameras alone is a positive step. These cameras are useful tools for assessing the health of populations such as the otters in Israel. Cameras can also be important for recording the successes of restoration projects. Managing species and habitats carefully, by using clever devices and creative approaches, can allow more species to survive — and this can even sometimes maintain food sources for humans.

Besides using technology, Hanuna also puts trust in traditional, down-and-dirty animal monitoring.

The wildlife tracker told Haaretz: "One of the things that does it for me is to see spoor of wild animals and to read the ground."

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