Camera Traps and Citizen Science: How Night Roamers Could Close the Data Gap for Viverrids
- The Civet Project
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
Photo of a Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus musanga) captured by "waniii" in Malaysia, overlooking the city of Kuala Lumpur. Observed and added to the Night roamers database on iNaturalist on 24.08.2026. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/394126742
The family of Viverridae, a secretive and ancient family of carnivores that still mystifies scientists to this day. This diverse family includes civets, binturongs, genets and linsangs. Each member has multiple species within it, with an astonishing 36 total viverrids spread across Asia and Africa (and that's not even including sub-species!). Each species is ecologically vital, in varying ways, but all of them are notoriously secretive and nocturnal. While some viverrid species adapt well to human activity, making them more likely to spot, others keep to the dense wilderness far from human eyes.
Being so difficult to spot, we lack basic up-to-date information on the details of viverrid distribution, population health and ecology. In today's rapidly changing world, tracking these changes has never been more important. While methods to intensely study viverrids are available, they are notoriously resource intensive in time, money and effort. This results in viverrids often being left out of the research lens.
At The Civet Project, we strive to solve this issue. We have created the Night Roamers project, a collaborative effort to finally close the long-held knowledge gaps for viverrid species.
What is the Night Roamers project?
The Night Roamers project is an open-call citizen science initiative, managed in partnership with the IUCN SSC Small Carnivore specialist groups “Civet Working Group”. The research is hosted on iNaturalist, an opens database where anyone can upload an observation of a species. From there, experts can verify their findings and narrow down species identifications.
With this database, we are able to gather vital information about viverrid species, and bring together data from conservation organisations conducting camera trap studies, photographers on expeditions, and local community members snapping a quick picture on a walk. This combination brings together a mass of data that can only be achieved through a collaborative effort.
The project need is incredibly simple: participate.
To bridge those gaps in understanding for viverrids, we need as many people and organisations on board. Civets are often captured on cameras, either through camera trapping or photography, but are never submitted or recorded due to being labelled as “by-catch”; an additional capture that wasn't intended. Yet all over their range, viverrids are appearing on camera's unintended for them- and this data can be really valuable. We are calling on everyone with viverrid by-catch to upload their findings to the Night Roamers project, where our team can put that otherwise discarded data to good use.
Night Roamers so far
Currently, our Night Roamers project has seen amazing results, and the IUCN SSC Civet working group and The Civet Project Foundation are still analysing data and pulling key insights. See below what we’ve achieved so far with this collaborative effort!
Credits: Abyssinian Genet sighting from: charlesfoley (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/339316221), Otter civet sighting from: Roylesafaris (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/173584511), Binturong sighting from: Myworldofbirdphotography (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/341061735).
Project partners
We currently have several partners working directly with us to contribute towards the Night Roamers database, including the Mankwe Wildlife Conservation Reserve and Izintaba Reserve in South Africa, Next continent in Vietnam, and ABconservation in the Philippines.
Our project with Mankwe Wildlife Conservation Reserve has seen an amazing combination of increasing the data on understudied viverrids, including the small and large spotted genet, widening our understanding on baiting methodologies to increase our success, and involving students in the project to broaden their skills in conservation monitoring of elusive nocturnal carnivores. Together in 2026, so far, we have supported 71 volunteers and 223 students across 8 universities/colleges. This project is actively bridging vital ecological research with supporting early career conservationists, providing the opportunity to study species that so often get overlooked in conservation courses. Look below to see an African civet caught on camera as part of the project!
African civet (Civettictis civetta) captured on Night Roamers camera in South Africa, July 2026.
Why this data is crucial
The IUCN Red list is a vital tool and reporting system for species decline and endangerment. It allows the public and scientists to understand the threats facing species and the actions needed to protect them.
Currently, on the IUCN Red list over 50% of viverrids are showing decreasing populations. There are currently 2 species classed as data deficient, and several species over-due for reassessment. This is a dire situation, and with very little research effort towards viverrids, it becomes increasingly worrying.
However, together with the IUCN Civet Working Group and our partners, we are tackling this issue head on. Using the Night Roamers database, alongside partner studies, and a team of expert scientists, we are using this previously discarded data to track population health across viverrid ranges. The aim is that this data will contribute towards the reassessment of viverrid species on the IUCN red list. While still in process, this project has the potential to take community driven conservation to the next level; uniting communities, NGOs, and experts across the world to protect a whole family of species.
What’s next: growing the network
We are looking for even more partners to join the call, and either directly upload data they've gathered on viverrids, or reach out to work on a collaborative project with us.
Currently, the database is being analysed with experts of the IUCN SSC Civet working group, alongside early career conservationists and students. This process builds essential skills for early career professionals, and introduces them to the crucial process of red listing assessments. The aim of this project is not only to build our understanding of viverrids, but to lift up the next generation of conservationists as well.
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How to get involved
Would you like to partner with us in our night roamers project? We are looking for conservation research organisations to share their data with us, and collaborate with us on this project.
We are also always eager for individuals to upload their sightings, clear images of species helps our team massively in understanding species identification features, and act as guidelines for students.
Want to partner with us? Reach out to our team: Helen@thecivetproject.com
Want to contribute your data? Upload to i-naturalist Night Roamers page
Love this — the “by-catch is actually valuable data” point really hits home. So many camera trap photos just get filed away as noise when they could be filling real gaps for species like civets and genets. It reminds me of how I used to plan wildlife trips by browsing national parks by state and realizing how many nocturnal animals I’d walked right past without ever knowing. Definitely going to dig through my old trail cam shots and upload anything useful to iNaturalist. Great work bridging communities and researchers like this!