Rob Appleby
- @Rob_Appleby
- | He/him
Wild Spy
Hi all my fellow WILDLABradors, a quick post to ask if anyone has ever tried to use leg bands or a similar 'bracelet' style of tracking/sensor attachment method with mammals (especially smaller-to-medium sized mammals)? Ideally, any successful examples would be fantastic, but failures are certainly welcome too. @Alasdair and I are looking at some new design ideas for (hopefully) relatively unobtrusive, long-life attachment methods and leg bands, similar in principle to those commonly used for birds (but a bit more ruggedized maybe), came to mind.
Thanks in advance,
Rob
26 October 2020 2:23pm
Hi Rob,
I can't think of any examples of this with primates, mostly because they'd probably figure out how to get them off or mess with them. Using collars at least limits the biting possibilities but still, they're dang smart! It would be hard I think to ruggedize it enough to deal with all that but then still have it be light-weight and non-bothersome enough to ethically use it (particularly with smaller mammals). Just some thoughts on the practicality aspect for primates; can't speak to other mammals but seems like this would be a similar issues for carnivore species.
-Carly
27 October 2020 2:01pm
Hello Rob,
I have seen the bracelet style used on large mammals with mixed success and failure. The main considerations are terrain the animal uses, and fitting the bracelet properly. Both affect the 1. durability of the tag and 2. whether it cuts into the skin. In the case of fitting to the leg, tighter is better to minimise rubbing and cutting in, but it will depend on the species you are thinking to tag. Would be great to hear how the development goes for small-medium size mammals.
Best,
Michelle
Carly Batist