Rare giraffes fitted with solar-powered trackers

Conservationists have fitted members of an endangered giraffe species in northern Kenyan with satellite-tracking devices, part of a campaign to monitor and understand them better.

A total of 28 reticulated giraffes have been fitted with the tracking devices, a feat said to be the largest GPS satellite tagging of giraffe in history, the Giraffe Conservation Foundation says.

The species is considered endangered after its population shrank by 60% in three decades, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The solar-powered tracking devices will help conservationists understand their movements and use of the environment.

Approximately 115 giraffes in six African countries have so far been fitted with the trackers, the Giraffe Conservation Foundation says.

“Knowing where giraffe are, how much space they need, and how they move across the landscape seasonally, is vital to inform effective conservation and planning," it said in a statement.

Source

Monkey-Mapping Satellites Could Identify At-Risk Populations

By Mindy Weisberger, Senior Writer | June 27, 2017 12:20pm ET

In the Amazon rainforests that are home to hundreds of known species of monkeys — and likely more that have yet to be discovered — it can be extremely difficult for conservationists to track their numbers and monitor how they are affected by human activities such as hunting and deforestation.

However, scientists proposed in a recent study that a diverse range of technologies, including satellites, can combine with observations on the ground to give a more accurate picture of biodiversity among monkeys and other animals in hard-to-access habitats.

Most satellites can't directly detect the activities and numbers of small animals living in dense forests. But together with DNA evidence, field reports, and audio and visual records, they could help researchers identify monkey populations that are declining or at risk, the study authors reported. 

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New forecast tool helps ships avoid blue whale hotspots

Satellite tracking informs maps of blue whale density off West Coast 

 

Date:November 29, 2016

Source:NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region

Scientists have long used satellite tags to track blue whales along the West Coast, learning how the largest animals on the planet find enough small krill to feed on to support their enormous size.

Now researchers from NOAA Fisheries, Oregon State University and the University of Maryland have combined that trove of tracking data with satellite observations of ocean conditions to develop the first system for predicting locations of blue whales off the West Coast. The system, called WhaleWatch, produces monthly maps of blue whale "hotspots" to alert ships where there may be an increased risk of encountering these endangered whales.

NOAA Fisheries has begun publicly posting the maps on its West Coast Region website each month. A new scientific paper published in the Journal of Applied Ecology describes the development of the WhaleWatch system and the methodology behind it.

"We're using the many years of tag data to let the whales tell us where they go, and under what conditions," said Elliott Hazen, a research ecologist at NOAA Fisheries Southwest Fisheries Science Center and lead author of the new paper. "If we know what drives their hotspots we can more clearly assess different management options to reduce risk to the whales."

 

Continued 

Tracking Cats from Space: Satellites Estimate Feral Ranges

by Stephanie Pappas, Live Science Contributor | October 02, 2015 07:21am ET

How far feral cats roam can now be estimated from space, a new study finds.

No, satellites haven't become so sensitive as to be able to follow the movements of individual felines. But a new study finds that the productivity of a landscape — measured by vegetation-tracking satellites — determines the range of feral cats.

This matters because feral cats (domesticated cats that live in the wild) are major predators for native birds and small mammals the world over. A 2013 study published in the journal Nature Communications estimated that cats kill between 1.4 billion and 3.7 billion birds and as many as 20.7 billion small mammals each year.

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Tracking endangered leatherback sea turtles by satellite, key habitats identified

Date:

March 19, 2014

Source:

University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Summary:

Most satellite tagging studies of leatherbacks have focused on adult females on their tropical nesting beaches, so little is known worldwide about males and subadults, the researcher point out. But now, tagging and satellite tracking in locations where leatherbacks forage has allowed the scientists to get a much richer picture of the leatherback's behavior and dispersal patterns on the open ocean.

Continued

Satellites track turtle 'lost years'

By Jonathan Amos

Science correspondent, BBC News

New insights have been gained into the "lost years" of loggerhead turtles.

Tiny satellite tags have tracked months-old animals in the uncertain period when they leave US coastal waters and head out into the wider Atlantic Ocean.

The data suggests the loggerheads can spend quite some time in the Sargasso Sea, possibly living in amongst floating mats of sargassum seaweed.

The observations are reported in a journal of the Royal Society.

“This has been a fun study because the data suggest the turtles are doing something a little bit unexpected to what everyone had assumed over the past few decades, and it boils down to having the right technology to be able to follow the animals,” said lead author Dr Kate Mansfield from University of Central Florida, Orlando.

Scientists have long struggled to track the earliest years of Atlantic loggerheads (Caretta caretta).

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Orinoco crocodiles to be tracked by satellite

Four of these reptiles will be released and monitored with satellite transmitters 

August 2013. Two of the world's twelve species of crocodiles live in Colombia, the spectacled caiman (Severely threatened locally) and the Critically Endangered Orinoco crocodile.

The Orinoco crocodile can reach seven feet long and is the only crocodile species whose distribution is contained in a single watershed. Although they originally lived throughout the entire area of the Orinoco, it has been endangered by indiscriminate hunting, especially 1930-1950.

"Today there are only two relic populations of these animals in the wild, in Arauca region (At the confluence of the Ele, Lipa and Cravo Rivers) and the Meta region (In the Guayabero, Duda and Losada Rivers)," says the environmental scientist Willington Martinez, of the UN's Roberto Franco Tropical Biology Station.

The Franco station has been working on plans to protect the species by developing a project to reintroduce Orinoco crocodiles into the wild; the project is being run with the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MADS). The project plans to release and monitor four Orinoco crocodiles, which have been fitted with satellite transmitters in the department of Meta.

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Where the tuna swim? Tracking tuna by satellite

Tracking map reveals tuna movements in the Coral Triangle region 

May 2013. Data from pop-up satellite tags attached to adult yellowfin tuna show movements of this commercially-valuable species around Coral Triangle waters. 

The movements of four mighty swimmers named Amihan, Badjao, Hagibis, and Buhawi, can now be followed via aspecies tracking map, that shows in color-coded coordinates, how far the fish have swam since being tagged off the western seaboard of Mindoro Occidental in the Philippines. 

Large distances covered

"The data we have gathered so far reveal that tuna movements cover an impressive amount of nautical miles a day, travelling back and forth in a general north-south direction from where they were caught and released," says Dr. Jose Ingles, Tuna Strategy Leader of the WWF Coral Triangle Programme. 

"While still preliminary, the results signify that to properly manage this yellowfin tuna stock, we need to consider similar or complimentary conservation measures along the geographic area of its movements." 

WWF, in collaboration with the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), is conducting a tuna tagging project in Philippine waters to gather more data on the movements of yellowfin tuna. 

Identify spawning zones

"Through this activity, we hope to identify key spawning, feeding, and nursery grounds of this much sought-after species and make a case for governments to protect these sites," adds Dr. Ingles. 

Continued: http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/yellowfin-tuna-migration.html

First Satellite Tag Study for Manta Rays Reveals Habits and Hidden Journeys of Ocean Giants

ScienceDaily (May 11, 2012) — Using the latest satellite tracking technology, conservationists from the Wildlife Conservation Society, the University of Exeter (UK), and the Government of Mexico have completed a ground-breaking study on a mysterious ocean giant: the manta ray.

The research team has produced the first published study on the use of satellite telemetry to track the open-ocean journeys of the world's largest ray, which can grow up to 25 feet in width. Researchers say the manta ray -- listed as "Vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) -- has become increasingly threatened by fishing and accidental capture and now needs more protection.

The study was published May 11 in the online journal PLoS ONE. The authors include: Rachel T. Graham of the Wildlife Conservation Society and the University of Exeter; Matthew J. Witt of the University of Exeter; Dan W. Castellanos of the Wildlife Conservation Society; Francisco Remolina of the National Commission of Protected Areas, Cancun, Mexico; Sara Maxwell of the Marine Conservation Institute and the University of California-Santa Cruz; Brenden J. Godley of the University of Exeter; and Lucy A. Hawkes of Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom.

Read on:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120511122228.htm

Satellite tracking Bactrian camels in the Gobi Desert

GPS tracking to find Bactrian camel migration routes In October 2011 Prof. Chris Walzer and Dr. Gabrielle Stalder (veterinary scientists at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology at the Veterinary Science University, Vienna) successfully attached GPS satellite collars to endangered wild Bactrian camels in the Mongolian desert. Their efforts are part of the long-term Gobi Research Project on wild horses, Asiatic wild asses, and other animals that make this unique environment their home.
Just 3 populations of Bactrian camels left alive
The range of the wild Bactrian camel (Camelus ferus) has been reduced to only three locations world-wide: two in China (Lop Nuur and Taklamakan desert) and one in Mongolia (Great Gobi Specially Protected Area). The Great Gobi Protected Area was established in 1975 to protect a unique desert environment that is home to several rare or globally threatened mammal species, such as the wild Bactrian camel, the Gobi bear (Ursus arctos gobiensis), the snow leopard (Uncia uncia), the argali wild sheep (Ovis ammon) and the Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus).

Threats
However, habitat deterioration due to increasing human demand for livestock pastures and water resources, illegal hunting, and recently also a marked increase in illegal placer mining (mining valuable minerals by washing or dredging activities) in the protected area region have become a conservation concern.

"Increasing incidences of resource extraction in the area seriously jeopardize the integral protection of the camel´s and other species´ habitat," says Chris Walzer, a senior veterinary scientist at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology (FIWI) of the Veterinary Science University, Vienna, who has a long-standing landscape-level commitment to conservation research in the Gobi.

Read more here ...