Sizes of Animals

• by davidbygott moderator

  When we see just a patch of fur or a belly or some ears in a photo, how can we reasonably guess what we are seeing? Size matters! Most of the cameras are mounted 1 metre above the ground, so in a perfectly flat landscape, any object that is level with the horizon - at any distance from camera - is about 1 metre high. One of our ID stars, hayvel, has taken an old drawing of mine that shows most of Serengeti's animals drawn approximately to scale, and has superimposed camera height on each animal. This might be useful to you all. Thanks hayvel!

  

  Posted May 21, 2014 2:59 PM

• by Asherah

  I think its great! I've never been quite sure of camera height so its super helpful!

  Posted May 21, 2014 3:44 PM

• by areinders moderator

  Great idea - thanks hayvel!

  Posted May 21, 2014 10:41 PM

• by Ahmagahz

  I have noticed that the cameras are pretty much all "knee height to a giraffe".

  Posted October 16, 2014 10:27 AM

• by pdtucci

  So a Secretary Bird is three feet high? Or am I misinterpreting the chart?

  Posted October 16, 2014 5:28 PM

• by DZM admin

  Looks like a little above three feet... about 3'6".

  Posted October 16, 2014 6:02 PM

• by aliburchard scientist, translator

  @pdtucci @DZM - yup! Secretary birds are huge! Easily over 3 feet (the books say up to 4 feet, but it's hard for me to judge height from the safety of my land rover).

  Posted October 23, 2014 4:51 PM

• by Sariemarais

  That's very useful, as is the chance to see all the animals together

  Posted February 13, 2015 9:59 PM

• by iamfern

  Thanks that is so very helpful!

  Posted February 18, 2015 5:55 PM

• by jean-marion

  Thank you for this. It will be very helpful. I think I may have previously identified a shadowy creature with a long neck and small head as a 4' high giraffe!

  Posted June 12, 2016 6:05 PM

• by tam10 scientist

  Nice, where can I buy a poster of this?? 😃

  Posted July 20, 2016 7:22 PM