In Glacier National Park, little camouflaged cameras are hidden throughout the trails, not to see hikers’ antics but to capture photos of the elusive lynx.
The 132 cameras took about 570,000 photos last summer capturing everything from bears and lynx to worn-out hiking boots.
This is part of a three-year study of the lynx population that hopes to learn about their activity in the southernmost portion of their habitat.
Alissa Anderson, a graduate student in environmental studies at Washington State University and fondly called A-lynx-ssa by her colleagues, brought the camera trap technique to Montana after it was developed in Washington.
Lynx studies are often done in the winter to avoid disturbing bears, but field work in the winter is expensive and dangerous, Anderson said.