GPS Tracking Study Used to Learn How Animals Adapt in Urban Areas

25 Mar 2014

New GPS researching study tracks animals in urban areas, looking at their movements and how they adapt.

Scientists and researchers have been utilizing GPS tracking technology that lets them track animals in their natural habitat for years now, but tracking them in urban environments is relatively new. Researchers from the Conservation Wildlife Program at North Carolina State University and North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences are doing just that, with the help of global positioning systems (GPS).

The GPS tracking research study is following various types of animals, starting with the Great Egrets that are traveling throughout urban areas of the United States. The Great Egret, also known as the Large Egret or Common Egret, is one of the largest and most distributed types of egrets in the country. It is a large heron bird with white plumage. The bird has a slow flight and is mostly non-vocal except in breeding colonies.

Professor Roland Kays of the Conservation Wildlife Program at N.C. State University notes that the GPS tracking of animals is a great way to learn about their lives and movements for both scientific and conservation reasons.

From North Carolina, they are tracking the egrets with a GPS-equipped harness. It is extremely lightweight, as to not disturb the egret’s movements and flight. Kays mentions that the egrets have traveled exceptionally long distances from North Carolina going as far as Florida, Niagara Falls, and Boston, and even International flights to Jamaica and Cuba.

When the birds were originally caught, they were each given a name corresponding with that location. The GPS tracking unit has a number that matches their name, so researchers know exactly what egret they are tracking. There were a total of eight birds being tracked at the beginning of the study, but one recently died, bringing the number down to seven. It might be closer to six now  since another egret is stationary in Cuba, without movement for a while.

Another animal that Kays is interested in tracking in urban areas is the domestic cat. One of his undergraduate students, Rebecca Montgomery wants to track domestic cats in residential areas  to find out where they frequently go when they are kept outside in urban areas.

The research team is currently looking for volunteers of people who are willing to participate in the cat tracking study. Kays and his team want to find out exactly where the cats go while they are outside, if they are preying on wildlife, and what their safety factor is while out on their own. Because most scientists focus their tracking research on wildlife, Kays wants to track domestic animals, putting a different perspective on tracking the movement of animals.


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