iron
01-20-2008, 08:49 PM
pioneering jungle webcam will open up a window on a South American rainforest and give armchair naturalists the chance to spot a new species.
WLT Fundacio Jocotoco webcam (http://www.wildlifefocus.org/)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/graphics/2008/01/17/eawebcam117.jpg
The webcam will show live images from the middle of a specially created reserve in the middle of the Ecuador rainforest.
The pilot project by the World Land Trust (WLT) was launched by its patron, Sir David Attenborough, in London and the first live images from the Fundacio Jocotoco reserve should be available from today.
The conservation charity believes high quality pictures streamed by satellite from the rainforest will showcase its work and encourage people to become more involved with the environment.
It will also highlight to a worldwide audience the problems facing critically threatened wildlife and their disappearing habitats.
The project took six months to set up and if all the technical problems can be overcome it is hoped similar webcams will be set up around the globe where the WLT has projects.
The webcam in Ecuador is focused on a hummingbird feeder in an area where at least 32 species of hummingbirds appear.
But other animals in the rainforest which may be glimpsed include Tapir, Spectacled Bear, Kinkajou, Mouse Opossu, Ocelot and Puma.
John Burton, CEO of the Trust, said: "I am confident that these webcams will ultimately become a vital tool for World Land Trust and its education programme and we can't wait to be able virtual rainforest tours to our supporters".
To launch the project the WLT is offering a week's accommodation at the Umbrella Bird Lodge in the heart of the Buenaventura Reserve in Ecuador to the first person who can freeze frame a new species of hummingbird identified by the webcam.
WLT Fundacio Jocotoco webcam (http://www.wildlifefocus.org/)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/graphics/2008/01/17/eawebcam117.jpg
The webcam will show live images from the middle of a specially created reserve in the middle of the Ecuador rainforest.
The pilot project by the World Land Trust (WLT) was launched by its patron, Sir David Attenborough, in London and the first live images from the Fundacio Jocotoco reserve should be available from today.
The conservation charity believes high quality pictures streamed by satellite from the rainforest will showcase its work and encourage people to become more involved with the environment.
It will also highlight to a worldwide audience the problems facing critically threatened wildlife and their disappearing habitats.
The project took six months to set up and if all the technical problems can be overcome it is hoped similar webcams will be set up around the globe where the WLT has projects.
The webcam in Ecuador is focused on a hummingbird feeder in an area where at least 32 species of hummingbirds appear.
But other animals in the rainforest which may be glimpsed include Tapir, Spectacled Bear, Kinkajou, Mouse Opossu, Ocelot and Puma.
John Burton, CEO of the Trust, said: "I am confident that these webcams will ultimately become a vital tool for World Land Trust and its education programme and we can't wait to be able virtual rainforest tours to our supporters".
To launch the project the WLT is offering a week's accommodation at the Umbrella Bird Lodge in the heart of the Buenaventura Reserve in Ecuador to the first person who can freeze frame a new species of hummingbird identified by the webcam.