CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Photos taken by motion-detecting wildlife cameras are yielding serious science as well as amusing photos of animals.

A bighorn sheep seems to wear a huge grin. A prairie dog appears to bust a dance move. You'd think wild animals knew how to strike a pose.

But from small desert cats called ocelots to snow-loving lynx high in the Northern Rockies, remote cameras are exposing the lives of elusive creatures like never before.

Grant Harris with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Albuquerque, New Mexico, says remote cameras show pig-like animals called javelinas in more northerly latitudes.

Wyoming migration researcher Matthew Kauffman says remote cameras supplement data from collars that transmit global-positioning signals.

Sometimes even a smart-alecky human turns up among the images — mooning the camera.

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