Millions of people watched and waited online for April the giraffe to give birth at Animal Adventure Park near Harpursville, N.Y. — although I am not sure how many were viewing live at the moment of birth. Of course, it is now recorded on YouTube for anyone to see.
As of yesterday, zoo officials announced on Facebook that a new camera will be installed to allow occasional viewing at times to be announced. For a $5 subscription, you can sign up for text alerts about the baby. This has become a real money-maker for the zoo. Frankly, I’m amazed at the level of interest, but it will probably decline now that the baby has arrived.
Each spring, I post an Amusing Monday piece showing where to find some of the best critter cams around the world. I’m pleased to report an ever-expanding number of cameras, not only those in zoos and aquariums but also those in outdoor locations where wildlife experts can study animals without disturbing them. Because of the Internet, we are able to essentially look over the shoulders of researchers and even watch the animals when official observers are not around.
Explore.org, a division of the Annenberg Foundation, is becoming the go-to website for connecting people live with animals via webcams. As I write this, the number of live video feeds listed on the website totals 65, although the number changes frequently as a result of shifts in animal activity as well as technical issues. Scroll down below the video player for text messaging related to each camera for interactions between video operators and online observers.
Several live feeds are able to show Northern Resident killer whales when they pass through Johnstone Strait, off the northeastern shore of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. The Explore.org webcams are coordinated with OrcaLab, a research station run by Paul Spong on nearby Hanson Island.
One of the newest Explore.org feeds shows a pair of long-eared owls and their owlets near Missoula, Mont. (Check out the first video player above). Besides watching the live image, one can scan backward in time using the scroll bar to get a better view of the babies.
One of the most popular critter cams is the one at Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park in Southeast Alaska. Beginning in June, brown bears congregate at the falls to catch migrating salmon. The bears seem to vary in their hunting techniques, some catching fish in midair. Until that webcam gets up and running, one can view highlights from previous years.
A number of popular critter cams from past years have been taken down for various reasons. Sometimes a nesting site does not get used. Also, funding to support the projects is always an issue, and I’m sorry to say that WildWatchcams from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is almost completely closed down at the moment.
One of my favorite live animal cams is still Pete’s Pond in Mashatu Game Preserve in Botswana, on the border with Zimbabwe and South Africa. It is often nighttime in Africa when it is daytime in our part of the world. The darkness, illuminated with infrared lights, is a good time for viewing, because that is when animals come to drink from the watering hole. (The site was offline when I posted this Monday afternoon.)
I’m sort of thrilled with the idea that we can visit a remote part of Africa and observe lions and zebras moving about in real time. The text-messaging feed allows people to communicate with the camera operator and other observers. The system is run by US Stream, an IBM subsidiary.
The third video is Cayman Reef near the East End of Grand Cayman Island in the Caribbean.
Explore.org also arranges its critter cams by channel. Here are some good ones to check out:
