Cloudbridge Camera Trap Project

TALAMANCA MOUNTAINS

Wild Cats Above the Clouds

The Talamanca Mountains form one of the most dramatic and biologically important mountain systems in Central America.

Stretching across Costa Rica and Panama, the landscape rises from tropical forest through cloud forest and into exposed high-elevation ecosystems.

Within these mountains live an extraordinary community of wild felids.

Yet much of their ecology at elevation remains poorly understood.

The Project

The Wild Felid Conservation Trust and WCIP are using remote camera trapping to investigate wild felid presence and habitat use within the Talamanca Mountains.

Our work focuses particularly on difficult-to-access mountain environments where comparatively little monitoring has previously taken place.

By deploying cameras along remote ridgelines, forest trails and high-elevation habitats, we are building a clearer picture of which species are present and how they are moving through these landscapes.

Why It Matters

Mountain ecosystems are experiencing rapid environmental change.

Understanding how species currently use different elevations provides important baseline information against which future ecological changes can be assessed.

For poorly studied species such as the oncilla, high-elevation research may be particularly important.

Long-Term Monitoring

This is not simply about capturing a single photograph.

Long-term camera trapping enables us to begin identifying patterns.

Which species are consistently present?

At what elevations?

During which periods?

How do detections change across habitats and seasons?

Each camera deployment adds another piece to that picture.