Animal Tracking
Transmitter fitted onto a collar on a turtle called Josephine (click to enlarge)
Painted dog with transmitter, Zimbabwe
Fitting a transmitter to a sealion
Megan Rodden
Techlink would like to thank Megan Rodden and Dave Ward for their contributions to this case study.
Introduction
The days of sending people out to scan trees trying to estimate numbers of birds or search the forest floor counting deer poo may not be over but they've certainly been superseded. Radio Tracking Devices are increasingly being used to monitor numbers of animals, where they travel and how long they survive. Sirtrack, formed in 1986 and based in Havelock North, makes radio transmitters and receivers, which it supplies to markets in New Zealand and around the world.
A radio transmitter unit is placed on an animal (insect, bird or reptile). This unit transmits information back to the researcher about where the animal is, if the group is together and whether they are still alive.
Satellite technology has been used over the last fourteen years for tracking animals. However it is only in the last three years that Sirtrack has been building its own satellite transmitters. They are now interfacing transmitters with Global Positioning System (GPS). This means that the units can now transmit via satellite or store the information. The receivers are accurate to more or less 6 to 10 metres.
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