Erin Poor spends most of her day collecting tiger poop. But when the Virginia Tech PhD candidate has some down time, she likes to share images of tigers, tapirs, and baby wild pigs—all captured via her camera traps.
“I have always believed that education is extremely important if we want to make positive environmental changes,” Poor told me via email. “People can’t understand something they’ve never been exposed to. I’m excited I’ve found a new way to engage the public.”
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Poor has been doing field work in Sumatra since March of last year. From the start, she’s been posting photos and videos from her work on Twitter, but the camera traps, which were set up in the last few months, offer a closer look. Her research is looking into whether or not Sumatran tigers are able to migrate between different pockets of protected wilderness, which have become increasingly segmented due to deforestation from pulp and palm oil plantations.
Poor told me the camera traps are one tool she uses to track the tigers movements and prepare to trap and collar the big cats for more detailed data. But they also capture the comings and goings of lots of different critters in the jungles of Riau Province.
Along with being able to educate the public about conservation issues, Poor told me social media is a great way to connect with other researchers. They even have their own niche hashtags, like #mammalwatching.
“When other scientists comment, they usually provide advice about the field or interesting facts about large mammals or field work in other places,” Poor said. “It’s been really great to have extra encouragement since field work in a foreign country alone can be extremely challenging.”
Poor’s field work will wrap up later this summer after she’s trapped, collared, and release some tigers. In the meantime, expect to see lots of candid shots of creatures large and small. Her favorite so far? The very first video they captured of a tiger, which she and her team named “Marshmellow.”
“It was the first tiger I’d seen as a result of my efforts, and I’ve been working on tigers for about seven years now,” Poor told me. “At the camera, the team burst into cheers and I was so relieved—we thought there was too much human activity in the area for trapping tigers—I burst into tears of joy.”
