Urban fauna

Wild city visitors get their own photo album!

Caught out! The fox has found its way into the cityscape. Every sighting can now be reported and thus contribute to research.

(Bild: dpa/Jörg Carstensen)

A fox in the city center, or a deer in the front garden? Inner-city sightings like these can be reported in future. The knowledge gathered by citizens will be used to promote nature and biodiversity in urban areas.

In future, city dwellers will be able to use a website to report sightings of hares, badgers and the like in the surrounding area. "StadtWildTiere" collects sightings of wild animals in cities to raise awareness of biodiversity in urban areas throughout Central Europe.

The collection of data also serves as a basis for scientific analysis. In addition, the knowledge gathered by citizens will be used to promote nature and biodiversity in urban areas.

How can I report a sighting?

• Anyone can report sightings of wild animals in urban areas on the stadtwildtiere.at website.
• The entries are sorted by animal species and area.
• The photos and videos submitted (including recordings from motion-controlled cameras) are published on the site.

Discovering the hidden
Urban ecology is still a young field and urban wildlife populations have not yet been the focus of studies. "StadtWildTiere enables us to recognize previously hidden patterns and temporal trends, for example in the context of urban densification and the heat island effect, especially with regard to climate change. The initiative can therefore also serve as a sensor for future interactions between humans and wildlife," explains study co-author Theresa Walter from the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology at Vetmeduni Vienna.

Important basis for decisions at a political level
In the long term, the scientists suggest that projects such as StadtWildTiere should create a basis for comparative, international monitoring in order to close the existing gaps in knowledge about urban wildlife populations.

Biological diversity
According to study co-author Richard Zink from the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Comparative Behavioral Research (KLIVV) at Vetmeduni, the data obtained from the study goes far beyond science: "This knowledge is also of crucial importance for political decision-makers and wildlife managers in order to establish the right strategies and measures. In particular, this also concerns the question of how to effectively improve biodiversity in cities."