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Real-time tracking of animal movements is enabling more effective and efficient wildlife monitoring for management, security, and research. As devices get smaller and prices drop, the possibilities for using biologging on a larger scale have grown, and so have the possibilities for increasing customisation to meet specific research needs. Likewise, real-time tracking of illegal wildlife trade, timber, and fish products as they move from source to consumer can shed light on trafficking routes and actors, as well as support enforcement, making tracking gear a powerful tool beyond the field.

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MoveApps: A Digital Home for Tracking Data Analysis

MoveApps

17 August 2023 7:47pm

In this Conservation Tech Showcase case study from 2022 Conservation Tech Award winner MoveApps, you’ll learn how they’re breaking new ground in animal movement research with tracking data analysis tools hosted by the...

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discussion

RFID Smart traps

Caitlin Black

23 April 2021 9:10am

Hello, I am trying to find information on 'smart traps.' I am planning to transponder urban rats with RFID tags. To estimate population size using mark-recapture...

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Robin Sandfort

7 June 2022 12:47pm

Hi Caitlin,

you might also look at this RFID logger sold by Labmaker:

Greetings from Austria,

Robin

 

Roy Sanderson

11 August 2023 12:50pm

Hi Caitlin

I'd recommend https://naturecounters.com/ who from past experience will work with you to come up with a good trap design. Their approach is to use an IR to detect when an animal starts to pass through the detector, which then triggers the RFID coil to be powered up. The huge advantage of this method is the battery power required is then very low, and the data can be stored into an SD card, all in one cheap, self-contained unit.

Roy

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discussion

Firetail 11 - GPS and sensor analysis

Tobias Petri

18 July 2023 5:04pm

I'm very happy to announce  that Firetail 11 is now available, including an all-new website! (yay!)Version 11 features a great set of options for researchers,...

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Lars Holst Hansen

11 August 2023 12:15am

Hi Tobias! 

This sounds great and I am looking forward to trying it out after returning from field work! 

Very cool with the Vectronic Activity data! I am looking forward to check How we can use that! 

Cheers,

Lars

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#Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge: Judges' Panel Honorees

WILDLABS Team

4 August 2023 10:00am

Please join us in celebrating this year’s top #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge Honorees as chosen by our panel of leading conservation organization judges, and enjoy the story contained within these entries about how our...

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discussion

non-invasive technique to apply GPS collars without catching?

Antoine Ede

14 June 2021 12:01pm

Dear all, I was wondering if they were "passive" techniques to "install" GPS collar or other GPS devices on a terrestrial animal ? Just a discussion...

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Brett Muir

6 January 2023 11:07pm

It's a start though! Always happy to see people trying to innovate. Also I thought the intent was that they wouldn't need to capture the bears like you would for a collar? We were imagining a passive system where you would have an attractant and tags could be applied to a bear by rubbing against something. 

Lars Holst Hansen

8 January 2023 5:14pm

 

Hi Brett! The original poster @antoineede surely asked for automatic non-invasive deployments and it was intriguing to see that someone actually made such a system for mule deer as @Rob_Appleby pointed out. Here is a prototype from their paper:

prototype collaring station

TWS Journals

We produced and evaluated a noninvasive automated collaring device as an alternative technique for measuring and collaring deer. Our technique is safe for wildlife professionals and nonstressful for ...

The Wildlife Society

I would love to see the wolf example too @Rob_Appleby, if you can find the reference.

In the polar bear example it was never the (initial) intention that the animals should not be captured.

It seems that they are basically looking for an alternative and less permanent way to attch the ear tags.

Here are some prototypes:

Prototype burr on fur atachments for polar bears

Image from:

It looks like they are actually using these Argos tags from Telonics:

Argos Eartag Transmitterhttps://www.telonics.com/products/argosTerrestrial/eartag.php

I am generally a bit sceptical regarding a fully automatic tracking device deployment system. In most cases, a lot of measurements (size, weight) and samples (hair, blood, saliva etc.) are taken and observations (sex, age stage, breeding condition) are done and any meta data will increase the value of the tracking data itself tremendously. Also, one might want to sometimes decide not to tag some individual because of some unforeseen condition. I would rarely just want some random collection of tracks from a number of animals you know nothing about. What about the challenge of simply restricting the system to tag only the targetted species? I guess a deliberate use if AI and computer vision could get some of these data but it is going to make the development of the system quite complex.

I still find it very interesting to follow the developments.

Antoine Ede

11 July 2023 10:48am

Thanks for all these interesting information, I'm sure that such technology will be developed in the future to dramatically reduce cost and risk of collaring such animals.
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Pangolin Tagging Challenges

Priya S Balasubramanian

11 January 2017 11:22pm

Hi! I'm looking for information on Pangolin transmitters or sensors, the basics to start off with. What information is gathered specific to this species or what are the...

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Craig Rackstraw

3 July 2023 9:24am

Hi,

Icoteq are launching a new range of small tags that would be ideal for pangolin tracking!

Called TagRanger, the technology incorporates a LoRaWAN based tag with built in sensors and GPS.  It also features a ranging solution giving you your distance to the tag when within range <150m - ideal for finding something which is well hidden as you can navigate your way to the tag until it's within touching distance!

The user carries a small handheld 'Finder' device that acts as a LoRaWAN gateway paired to a mobile phone for live mapping (on and offline maps) and ranging functions.

Size is limited by your preferred battery size, but could be as small as 32mm x 38mm x15mm with a 400mAh battery.

Production units available beginning of September, happy to do demos and trials with prototypes now!

Please feel free to contact me for more information.

 

Wildlife Drones

5 July 2023 1:53am

Hi! 

We have been working with Save Vietnam's Wildlife to track Pangolins for a couple of years now. You can read our Case Study here: 

 

 

We also documented the project and spoke with Save Vietnam's Executive Director about the challenges of tracking Pangolins - here is the video: 

They used the Telenax pangolin tags (15g) during our project which worked great with our drone-based telemetry system and were able to receive signals from a long distance. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions, we are always happy to discuss tracking projects!

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Osa Conservation: A Multi-Tech Toolbox of Solutions

Osa Conservation

22 June 2023 10:42am

In this Conservation Tech Showcase case study from Osa Conservation, you’ll learn about how technology is aiding their long-term efforts to prevent wildlife crime, protect critical species, and build a climate-adaptive...

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movedesign: a tool to evaluate sampling design in biologging

Ellie Warren

12 June 2023 11:25pm

This paper discusses movedesign, a new R app intended to evaluate the effectiveness of sampling design in animal movement research projects. This tool could be incredibly helpful for biologging community members looking to increase the effectiveness of their projects by better understanding the best duration and intervals for data collection.

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GPS collars are helping save Sumatra’s last wild elephants

Diep

28 May 2023 6:20pm

Rimba Satwa Foundation (RSF), an Indonesian elephant conservation NGO, is employing GPS collars on elephants to mitigate human-elephant conflicts. RSF aims to enhance collar usage, surveillance, and automation for sustained effectiveness in the long run.

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Animal tracking stories

Wildlife Drones

22 May 2023 2:19am

Do you have a wild animal tracking story that involves adventure or misadventure? Share it with us! From going around in circles for hours to discovering predators instead of your...

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Email Alerts via Moveapps

Lars Holst Hansen

12 May 2023 2:33pm

Using Movepps, I set up an email alert to check the tag voltage of deployed GPs collars and alert me if the fall under a threshold.We are using Vectronic collars and although they...

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Collar Tracking vs. Camera Traps for Monitoring Mexican Wolves

Ellie Warren

5 May 2023 9:08pm

This article compares and contrasts the success of their wolf monitoring efforts with both collars and camera traps. The camera traps were intended to help researchers identify individual wolves within the population, but they experienced difficulties identifying both uncollared wolves and those with marked collars.

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GPS collaring study of Ethiopian wolves

Ellie Warren

5 May 2023 12:55am

This news article discusses the first study to track Ethiopian wolves since 1992. The study focused on adult wolves from six packs in the Simien Mountains and used Lotek LiteTrack Iridium 250 collars. Community members working in biologging with species that are rarely studied will be especially interested in this effort to understand the wolves' behaviors and how human presence may be impacting these packs.

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https://www.ethiopianwolf.org/news/using-modern-technology-to-monitor-ethiopian-wolves-deploying-gps-collars-in-the-simien-mountains