Animal Tracking is Entering a 'Gold Age': Tools to Track Conservation Hotspots

We may be entering the "golden age" of animal tracking. Animals wearing new tagging and tracking devices are giving scientists a real-time look at their behavior and the environmental health of the planet.

Radio-tracking technology has largely been replaced by smaller GPS tags over the past five years. These tags allow scientists to accurately track vastly larger numbers of animals and use satellites to track individuals as they move across the globe.

These days, animals are fitted with multiple sensors to keep track of their health and energy use and to even monitor their brain waves. In fact, researchers can combine this information with weather data and other remotely monitored information about the environment, as well as monitor complex interactions among entire groups of animals.

The Automated Radio Telemetry System (ARTS) is a good example of how far animal tracking has come. This project began in 2002 to track animals as they moved through the dense, tropical lowland forest. At the time, to track a single animal, a scientists waving an antenna would crash through jungle vegetation, following a radio signal coming from the animal's radio collar.

In 2010, though, researchers could remotely track up to 200 animals at a time, 24/7 and even visualize their movements on the internet. In all, the researchers tracked white-faced capuchin monkeys, ocelots, sloths, bats, agoutis and even orchid bees.

Understanding animal movements is important for biodiversity research. It's also crucial for understanding targets for conservation.

The findings are published in the journal Science.

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