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Roland Kays

@rolandkays.com

940 followers 150 following 120 posts

Professor at North Carolina State University and scientist at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. Camera Traps, Animal Tracking, host of the Wild Animals YouTube Channel. Likes to play in the snow.

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Roland Kays @rolandkays.com · 10d

Can domestic buffalos stand up to jaguars in the Pantanal of Brazil? Join us as we set cameras to find out youtu.be/aN-pk-GEYTs?...

Buffalo vs Jaguar: What Really Happens in Brazil

YouTube video by Wild Animals

youtu.be

Roland Kays @rolandkays.com · 10d

Can domestic buffalos stand up to jaguars in the Pantanal of Brazil? Join us as we set cameras to find out youtu.be/aN-pk-GEYTs?...

Buffalo vs Jaguar: What Really Happens in Brazil

YouTube video by Wild Animals

youtu.be

Roland Kays @rolandkays.com · 19d

Quick - apply for this job as manager of our #Biodiversity lab at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences and NCSU to work with #tech and #biodiversity including camera traps, #AI and student mentoring Deadline is 9/23/2025 www.governmentjobs.com/careers/%7B0...

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Roland Kays @rolandkays.com · 29d

Check out my new vid on Brazil's Wildest Babies
Deep in Brazil’s Pantanal, camera traps captured rare and heartwarming moments from the wildest families in the animal kingdom.
youtu.be/tOoadTYBAg8

Brazil's Wildest Babies

YouTube video by Wild Animals

youtu.be

Roland Kays @rolandkays.com · Aug 11

Dances like wolves? Evaluating ecological replacement of apex predators in eastern North America stacksjournal.org/article/jens...

Reposted by Roland Kays

Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social · Jul 8

Hey Camera Trappers 📸🐺🐗🦌🦅Snapshot Europe is back for 2025!
Join us in deploying cameras this Sept-Oct. Help build a crucial snapshot of European biodiversity. Learn more & express interest here ▶️ app.wildlifeinsights.org/initiatives/...
Spread the word and help expand our community across Europe🙏

Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) captured in Stelvio National Park, Italy

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Roland Kays @rolandkays.com · Jun 18

see also this nice summary news.ncsu.edu/2025/06/huma...

Roland Kays @rolandkays.com · Jun 18

Check out our new paper in Current Biology on how well Chinese protected areas have preserved mammal and bird communities #cameratrap includes work-of-art figures by lead author Junjie Liu www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Roland Kays @rolandkays.com · Jun 6

you can also use clock time or sun time - look at the difference in this activity graph for raccoons. The data comes year-round from NC so sunrise/sunset vary quite a bit, messing up their peak of activity after sunset. Surprising it has little affect on their before-bed peak.

Roland Kays @rolandkays.com · Jun 6

Coyote and grey fox daily activity. Foxes avoid our yard in the evening but not the early AM. cool

Roland Kays @rolandkays.com · Jun 6

Here's the monthly detection rates for coyotes, red and grey foxes from my yard over the last few years. Grey foxes are the most common, red foxes rare visitors, maybe when the coyotes are away.

Roland Kays @rolandkays.com · Jun 6

The analytics are now live for all users on Wildlife Insights for camera trap data. Here's the average detection rate for mammals in my back yard over the last few years. www.wildlifeinsights.org

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Roland Kays @rolandkays.com · Jun 5

Anticipated Job Opening - Biodiversity Lab Manager at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. Come join our group using technology to monitor biodiversity #AI #Cameratrap #Animaltracking #GPS docs.google.com/document/d/1...

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Roland Kays @rolandkays.com · Jun 2

Cool funding opportunity for a new PhD student in ecology or evolution. www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...

Simons Graduate Fellowships in Ecology and Evolution

The purpose of these awards is to provide support for students entering U.S.-based Ph.D. programs with a plan to perform research in ecology and evolution. While we will consider all projects in ecolo...

www.simonsfoundation.org

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Roland Kays @rolandkays.com · May 26

@AniMove is going to Costa Rica! Sign up animove.org/next-animove...

Next Animove 2025, Costa Rica | AniMove

animove.org

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Reposted by Roland Kays

Andrés Cuervo @amcuervo.bsky.social · May 22

My student Vanessa Perez is analyzing hundreds of photos of the Barred Fruiteater. If you have some, you can help her fill some geographic gaps. A cool story is unwrapping ⛰️🪶 Please share! #birds #ornithology #speciation #andes

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Roland Kays @rolandkays.com · May 13

ok, this is a new one, a coyote excavating a cemetery in CA. Might make a nice den, but in mid May? Seems like the start of a horror movie www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/west...

www.newsnationnow.com

Reposted by Roland Kays

American Society of Mammalogists @mammalogists.bsky.social · Feb 18

Fellow Mammalogists.

As many of you are aware, science is in a state of turmoil in the United States. Recent efforts to drastically reduce government workforces and research funding for science will lead to many adverse consequences for Earth’s remaining natural ecosystems.

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Roland Kays @rolandkays.com · May 5

This is amazing @mammalogists.bsky.social are the best ologists!

Roland Kays @rolandkays.com · Apr 23

I know they eat them but have never seen how

Roland Kays @rolandkays.com · Apr 23

After I recorded this video I set cams again in an area with lots of fisher and porcs. I'm going through the footage now and had 27 fishers in 70 days (~1 fisher every 3 days) - this seems super high, fisher hotspot... maybe its all the porcupines around there 🤔 @scottlapoint.bsky.social

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Roland Kays @rolandkays.com · Apr 23

Roger Powell and I review my best camera trap videos and try to figure out how the heck fishers can kill a porcupine.
youtu.be/Q3MR_N2ng84

Inside the Kill: How (we think) Fishers Hunt Porcupines

YouTube video by Wild Animals

youtu.be

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Reposted by Roland Kays

Scott Delaney @scott-delaney.bsky.social · Apr 21

🧪 Our Terminated NSF Grant Tracker is live 🧪

🔴 114 NSF grants listed so far

🔴 Cancelled grants focused on

→ Training scientists
→ Misinformation
→ AI
→ Climate change

Credit to @noamross.net for all the work to build this & to all PIs who submitted their info.

Link: airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...

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Roland Kays @rolandkays.com · Apr 11

Nice paper showing cats are rare where coyotes roam in NYC link.springer.com/article/10.1...

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Roland Kays @rolandkays.com · Mar 31

We should do it again, what do you know about peccaries?

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Roland Kays @rolandkays.com · Mar 28

Also a shout-out to the North American Weasel Working group for making this whole thing happen, ideas, execution, field work, video analysis, data analysis, writing! weaselworkinggroup.weebly.com

North American Weasel Working Group

A voluntary group of biologists working together to help advance our understanding of weasels in North America.

weaselworkinggroup.weebly.com