Animal tracking methods encompass a range of technologies and analytical approaches used to monitor the spatial and temporal movements of individual animals or populations. Techniques include conventional tagging, radio telemetry (VHF), satellite telemetry (e.g., Argos, GPS), biologging (accelerometers, depth sensors, temperature, heart rate), and automated detection systems such as passive integrated transponders (PIT) and camera traps. Data from these devices are integrated with geographic information systems (GIS), state-space models, and movement ecology frameworks to infer habitat use, migration routes, behavior, and responses to environmental variation, enabling quantitative assessments of spatial ecology, demography, and conservation status.
What do bats do at night when they're not hunting? Using tiny GPS trackers, Leiden researchers discovered that pond bats spend a substantial portion of the night resting—often outdoors. This surprising insight could change ...
Plants & Animals
23 hours ago
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There are many poorly understood links in the food web, often referred to as trophic relationships. Out in East Antarctica, a previously unconfirmed link between sea snails and Adélie penguins might reveal more than meets ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 10, 2026
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A study by researchers at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry indicates that if lichen continues to decline across the Arctic, caribou populations could struggle to survive the winter.
Plants & Animals
Apr 8, 2026
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The movement patterns of waterfowl, including ducks, swans and geese, may affect the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza in bird populations, according to a new study from the University of Georgia. The findings are ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 7, 2026
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Snow leopards, leopards, and Himalayan wolves all share similar stomping grounds in Nepal's Lapchi Valley in the Himalayas. A recent study, published in PLOS One, has taken a closer look at how these apex predators have found ...
The study of dinosaurs has been through a revolution in recent decades. The story began half a century ago, when Robert McNeill Alexander, a professor of zoology at the University of Leeds, showed how the speed of an animal ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Apr 5, 2026
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When tourists travel to Seattle, it's common to take in the Space Needle and the downtown skyline from Puget Sound.
Ecology
Apr 4, 2026
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Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative) has published two scientific studies presenting the most comprehensive documentation of a sperm whale birth ever recorded and the first quantitative evidence of cooperative birth ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 26, 2026
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To protect the vulnerable biodiversity of the Arctic, researchers from the University of Alberta and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA) have identified a new conservation strategy in western Hudson Bay: using polar bears ...
Ecology
Mar 25, 2026
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New research from the Shorebird Science and Conservation Collective at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI), published in the journal Conservation Biology, provides a model for big data ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 23, 2026
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