Urban Wildlife Program goes global
What started as a Chicago-based initiative is now going global. Lincoln Park Zoo's Urban Wildlife Institute, launched in 2010, uses motion-triggered cameras and acoustic monitoring equipment to study how animals live alongside humans in urban environments. The program grew into the Urban Wildlife Information Network (UWIN), a research collaborative now expanding internationally — with new members in Edmonton, Canada (a partnership between the City of Edmonton and the University of Alberta) and a pilot program underway in South Africa.
In Chicago alone, researchers deploy over 100 cameras four times a year across parks, cemeteries, and golf courses, collecting more than 100,000 photos annually. Citizen scientists help sort through them at chicagowildlifewatch.org. Findings so far? Deer have been spotted in every participating city, and the largest animal caught on camera is a moose, courtesy of the Canadian team.
The goal is to identify patterns in wildlife behavior across cities worldwide, and use that data to reduce conflict between humans and animals sharing the same spaces.
