VIDEO: In A First, Camera Collar Captures Leopard’s Movements In Pune’s Junnar District | Representative Image
In a first in India, camera collars were used by scientists to track and study wild animals in their natural habitat.
Scientists at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) fitted a camera collar onto a wild male leopard in Pune district’s Junnar taluka in December last year as part of a collaring exercise in their study. The camera collar was removed last week.
The scientists said 1,000 video clips, each 30 seconds long, were downloaded from the camera collar, which are now being analysed by experts at the WII.
This has sparked hope among the scientists to better understand the human-animal conflict in Junnar and mitigate it.
One such video clip was shared on X (formerly Twitter) by Bilal Habib, the WII scientist who led the research initiative.
Sharing the video, he wrote, “From the first cam collar: a breathtaking journey of leopard from the ridge top, weaving through human-dominated habitats and pausing at an eye-teasing waterbody. Every frame a story, every step a revelation. This is what the wild sees—and now, so do we.”
“For the first time in India, a camera collar has captured the world through the eyes of a wild leopard. Deployed as part of a research initiative, this groundbreaking footage offers an intimate glimpse into the life and landscape of one of India’s most elusive big cats. A remarkable step forward in blending science, technology, and conservation for deeper understanding and coexistence,” Habib said in another post on X.
Details of the study:
Reportedly, the camera collar was programmed to record 30-second video clips every hour. It has now provided researchers with invaluable footage of the leopard’s daily activities, landscape behaviours and navigation through human-dominated landscapes.
The study was conducted as part of a 2019 agreement between WII and the Maharashtra government. Under this agreement, 13 leopards have been radio-collared and one was camera-collared.
Why Junnar?
Junnar is one of the hotspot areas of human-leopard conflict. Between March and December last year, forest officials reported at least 11 human deaths due to leopard attacks. These attacks are now also spilling over to the nearby areas.
