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, 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, 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, requires specialist skills and somewhat 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 we need to collect data including sex, weight and life stage, from known individuals, 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 some stress related behaviours early on, she redesigned the box tunnel.
The new design has reduced the presence of stress related behaviours 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. This is a great example of how considering animal behaviour can not only improve animal welfare but also the quality of the data collected.
Six of seven species tracked so far
Jazz has already taken 1600 photos of footprint track plates she has collected and will continue to collect prints until mid-February.
While collecting prints, animals are given a little hair cut so we know if we recapture the same individual, this is called capture mark recapture.
Jazz has collected prints from 22 individual field voles, one of which has been through the process nine times and been given the name Notch after a notch on his ear!
Notch is a great advocate for the methodology, having been trapped so many times, this shows that we haven’t caused a level of stress that would prevent him from entering the trap again and again.
Prints have also been collected from 27 bank voles, as well as pygmy shrews, water shrews and wood mice.
Jazz is also planning to go to the British Wildlife Centre to collect prints from captive harvest mice there.
Trapping methodology
We still need data for the common shrew, so to target these, Jazz will be relocating the traps and enticing them with food they’re known to like.
The animals are trapped during the day only, using a Longworth trap filled with plenty of hay and food. They are handled briefly to sex and weigh them then gently encouraged through the footprint tunnel before being released.
For each species, the aim is to collect prints from as many individual animals as we can, then take images of the tracks that are programmed into the FIT technology to look for patterns and distinctive characteristics between same-species footprints.
The potential impact
If successful, this project could transform how we monitor small mammals in the UK.
Instead of lengthy analysis or trapping, conservationists could place footprint tunnels in the survey area, then simply photograph footprints collected in tunnels and use FIT to quickly and accurately determine the species and hopefully, one-day 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.
Not only will this allow for less invasive survey methods, it also makes small mammal surveying accessible to a much wider range of people, allowing for citizen science projects to be born.
Wildwood and our partners PTES and Wildtrack are very 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!
