Small mammal footprint project is on track
21st Nov 2025
Back in August we announced a new project at Wildwood Kent that in future should allow conservationists to understand the presence of small mammal species and their population dynamics without disturbing their behaviour or ecology.
Funded by PTES (https://ptes.org/grants/internship-projects/), the project’s aim is to collect a baseline data set of small mammal footprints that will be used to train an existing AI footprint identification technology (FIT), created by US-based non-profit conservation organisation WildTrack (https://www.wildtrack.org/), to recognise UK small mammals from their footprints.
Moving towards non-invasive tracking
Understanding small mammal populations is a key part of many conservation projects, but the traditional method of trapping and handling animals to gather data on which species are in a given area is time-consuming and fairly invasive.
A faster, non-invasive alternative to wildlife monitoring will therefore be of great benefit, and so far, we’re on track to achieve this.
While trapping the animals is necessary for this project, as it’s essential to know the gender of each animal and to use the same animals, our aim is to make the data collection process itself as non-invasive as possible.
The project highlights the importance of animal welfare in data collection
Wildwood intern Jazz Woollard is using footprint tunnels to collect the data, using charcoal powder and sticky paper.
The animals walk through the charcoal and then transfer this onto the paper as they walk, leaving behind a (hopefully) perfect footprint.
The animals’ behaviour and welfare is Jazz’s top priority, so when she observed early on that the animals were trying to escape and not walking calmly through the footprint tunnel, she re-designed the box tunnel.
The new design has reduced the animals’ stress and, by enabling them to do two runs at once, also reduced the handling time and doubled the prints being collected.
This focus on welfare has improved the animals’ behaviour and the quality of the prints being collected, and won Jazz praise from Wildtrack and PTES.
Six of seven species tracked so far
Jazz has already taken 1600 photos of the track plates and will continue to collect prints until mid-February.
She has collected prints from 22 field voles, one of which has been through the process nine times and been given the name Notch after a notch on his ear! The fact that Notch has been through the box so many times is a sign he’s not stressed.
Prints have also been collected from 19 bank voles, as well as pigmy shrews, water shrews and wood mice.
Jazz also goes to the British Wildlife Centre to collect prints from captive harvest mice there. We still need data for the common shrew, so to target these, Jazz will be relocating the tunnels and enticing them with food they’re known to like.
Longworth trap
The animals are trapped during the day only, using a Longworth trap filled with plenty of hay and food.
They are handled briefly to guide them through the footprint tunnel before being released.
For each species, the aim is to track 20 females and 20 males and take images of the footprints of each of those individual animals, to be programmed into the FIT technology to look for patterns and distinctive characteristics between same-sex footprints.
The potential impact
If successful, this project should transform how we monitor small mammals in the UK.
Instead of lengthy analysis or invasive trapping, conservationists could photograph footprints collected in tunnels and use FIT to quickly and accurately determine the species and sex.
Knowing where males and females are within a given area will help to gain an understanding of population dynamics, a vital part of assessing feasibility of conservation projects.
Wildwood and our partners PTES and Wildtrack are vey happy with the progress on this project and congratulate Jazz on redesigning a footprint tunnel that will serve as a model for others.
We’re excited to see where the project goes and will post another update in the new year!
