Using the new technologies and the Internet to track wild animals, bringing new opportunities for wildlife research and conservation

Abstract

Identifying individual wild animals in the field has always been challenging; even more so has been tracking their movements. However, the advent of Global Positioning Systems (GPS)-enabled radio collars (tags) around the end of last century has marked a new era in wildlife research. Radio/GPS collars are powerful tools for the remote identification and real-time geolocation (through telemetry) of individual wild animals. Since the beginning, though, the main limiting factor for application of radio/GPS telemetry in wildlife monitoring has been battery weight. It is generally accepted that the weight of a radio/GPS collar and battery should not exceed 3% of the weight of the target animal; otherwise the excessive burden is likely to affect the behavior and survival of the target individual. For animals that weigh less than 100 grams, even the smallest currently available radio/GPS collars are too heavy, and 75% of all bird and mammal species, and all insects, fall in this category. Although smaller and lighter integrated circuit chips are being developed, the weight of the batteries used in radio/GPS collars has remained virtually unchanged over the past couple decades. German animal behavior scientist Dr. Martin Wikelski has worked on tracking wild animals over the past decade, and has developed a novel internet-based approach to tracking of wildlife, namely the International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space (ICARUS) system. The ICARUS system uses solar energy to charge the solar cells integrated with tracking devices, which recently have been developed to weigh as little as 5 grams. This system will enable researchers to connect to so many species, from rhinos and starlings to baby sharks, such that it could lead to the creation of an “internet of animals”. ICARUS provides us with the means to carry out large-scale research, tracking bird migration and small animal movements using simple mobile phone applications. The system would allow each transmitter to track an animal’s movements at preset intervals as well as record its lifetime travel, activities, and energy expenditure—Such that wildlife biologists could readily know where any tracked wild animal is located and what it is doing in field along with its longer-term behavioural and geospatial statistics. ICARUS monitors are less expensive than the previous generations of GPS collars and they can be recycled and reused, thus saving on cost and increasing the feasibility of conducting more extensive large scale satellite tracking of wild animals. After several attempts, Dr. Wikelski finally has managed to trial this new technology in the field with support of the Russian space station. It is a new step in the battle to save endangered wildlife, particularly wide ranging migratory spe-cies, enabling us to understand their geographic patterns and behaviors. This technology also should enable us to learn about more complex matters such as the movement of pathogens carried by bats, or abnormal animal behaviors that could be instrumental for the early detection (and warning) of imminent earthquakes. As China’s wildlife research equipment industry started later than several other countries, its field research studies based on radio and GPS telemetry mostly use foreign equipment. However, China recently has been making rapid progress in the development of GPS collars for monitoring wildlife. The development of the Beidou Satellite Navigation System in particular offers a range of new opportunities for tracking wildlife, and hence new options for wildlife researchers in China and around the world.