Space technology used to track endangered d
Date: 20-Sep-99
Country: UK
Unlike radio transmitters which have a limited range, satellites allow
researchers in Scotland to follow the movement of packs of wild dogs in
South Africa's Kruger National Park.
"These systems weren't developed specifically for people to follow
mammals - we have borrowed the technology," Dr Martyn Lee Gorman told a
news conference on Friday at the British Association for the Advancement
of Science festival.
The zoology professor and his colleagues at the University of Aberdeen
in Scotland and in South Africa are using the ARGOS satellite system and
the Global Positioning System (GPS) that was developed by the United
States for military purposes.
Transmitters attached to the animals send out signals picked up by the
ARGOS system. The satellites calculate the transmitter's position on the
Earth's surface.
"The GPS system works in a completely different manner. You have a
receiver on the animal and that uses radio signals from a number of
satellites in the Earth's orbit to calculate its own position on the
Earth," Gorman explained.
The information can be stored for up to a year and then downloaded to a
laptop computer, via a radio link, to provide information on where the
animals have been.
"This has serious implication for the best way to manage areas for the
benefit of endangered wild dogs - in the contemporary African landscape
dogs only do well where there are few, or no lions," Gorman said.
The scientists are tracking deer in Scotland to gather information to
manage the regeneration of trees which deers like to feed on. Other
groups around the world are using similar technology to track polar
bears, moose, turtles and the albatross.