From today’s Science section of the New York Times:

Photographing Wildlife Without a Photographer

By NICHOLAS ST. FLEUR

Camera traps can help illuminate the world’s most elusive animals. When a cougar, elephant or other creature triggers the device’s motion sensor, it snaps a picture.

“Most animals are hiding, you actually never get to see them and you might be led to believe there’s nothing out there,” said Roland Kays, a zoologist at North Carolina State University and author of the forthcoming book “Candid Creatures: How Camera Traps Reveal the Mysteries of Nature.”

Wildlife photographers have used remote-controlled cameras for more than a century, but in recent years scientists have begun using the tool with more frequency, Dr. Kays said.

The images may be used to help researchers track the whereabouts of rare species or figure out what creatures inhabit a certain area.

The images below, from Dr. Kays and two other camera trap projects, offer some intimate glimpses into the secretive lives of wildlife, including lions roaming the wetlands of Namibia and coyotes dwelling in the forests of North Carolina.

An elephant at night triggered a camera trap placed in Namibia’s Zambezi region. Will Burrard-Lucas/World Wildlife Fund, U.S.

A Majestic Giant

Namibia’s Zambezi region is teeming with exotic, yet camera-shy animals.

To photograph the diverse creatures, Will Burrard-Lucas, a photographer working with the World Wildlife Fund, placed several trap cameras around a popular watering hole last July and left them unattended for three months.

“It’s pretty rare that I’m working on a project where I never see the animals I’m photographing,” Mr. Burrard-Lucas said. But, he added, “to take these beautiful photographs, a camera trap was literally the only way that would be possible.”

During the 10 days Mr. Burrard-Lucas spent there, the elephants he encountered would either run from him or flap their ears and charge at him. But the photos from his camera trap showed the gray giants in a calmer setting, splashing around the muddy watering hole.

Read the whole article here.