Living so close to the foothills, we're lucky to catch sight of some pretty unique wildlife that sometimes wander their way into town. When they're not feeling as adventurous though, these wild animals tend to avoid people as much as possible. Lucky for us, the City of Fort Collins Natural Areas Department partnered with Rocky Mountain Cat Conservancy and Rocky Mountain High School, to shed light on what local wildlife does in their natural habitat during the day, as well as once the sun goes down. The project began in 2009, with four motion/heat activated cameras being placed both on and off the trail at Bobcat Ridge Natural Area. Initially, this was part of an experiment to determine whether or not the presence of humans affected wildlife behavior. After documenting their findings, the cameras, which are owned by the Rocky Mountain Cat Conservancy were left up, and added to, making a total of eight. Now, City of Fort Collins volunteers and students from Rocky Mountain High school regularly check these cameras, and a couple of times each month, snapshots of the wildlife findings are published on the natural areas website.

From bears and elk, to turkeys, coyote and skunks, these cams have captured some pretty incredible photos over the past years. Check out some of the best below:

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