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From frigatebirds and gulls to curlews and cormorants, researchers are tapping the ”Internet of Animals” to map, understand, and protect our changing world.
In the late 1990s, as an ecologist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Martin Wikelski guesses he drove every mile of the Prairie State’s backroads in a two-toned Oldsmobile. But these were no joyrides; they were high-adrenaline all-nighters in the name of science.
Each spring and fall evening, having outfitted another Swainson’s Thrush with a tiny radio transmitter, Wikelski drove like a “tornado chaser,” staying close enough to record the bird’s heartbeat, wingbeats, and vocalizations. His shift ended when the migrating thrush touched down, often hundreds of miles from where he’d tagged it—except when flashing red and blue lights in the rear-view mirror cut short his gonzo fieldwork.
These days researchers no longer have to go to such extremes. Thanks to powerful new technology, an untold number of birds now wear some kind of sensor. The gadgets are smaller, cheaper, and capable of gathering more information than ever before—and they don’t require trailing a creature in real time. It’s the “golden era” of animal tracking, says Wikelski, director of the Department of Migration at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior. This year, through a project called ICARUS, he and his colleagues will launch the first of several miniature satellites to track thousands of animals across the globe. Their aim is to create an “Internet of Animals” and discover the hidden worlds of the planet’s wildlife.
Continued below.
www.audubon.org
In the late 1990s, as an ecologist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Martin Wikelski guesses he drove every mile of the Prairie State’s backroads in a two-toned Oldsmobile. But these were no joyrides; they were high-adrenaline all-nighters in the name of science.
Each spring and fall evening, having outfitted another Swainson’s Thrush with a tiny radio transmitter, Wikelski drove like a “tornado chaser,” staying close enough to record the bird’s heartbeat, wingbeats, and vocalizations. His shift ended when the migrating thrush touched down, often hundreds of miles from where he’d tagged it—except when flashing red and blue lights in the rear-view mirror cut short his gonzo fieldwork.
These days researchers no longer have to go to such extremes. Thanks to powerful new technology, an untold number of birds now wear some kind of sensor. The gadgets are smaller, cheaper, and capable of gathering more information than ever before—and they don’t require trailing a creature in real time. It’s the “golden era” of animal tracking, says Wikelski, director of the Department of Migration at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior. This year, through a project called ICARUS, he and his colleagues will launch the first of several miniature satellites to track thousands of animals across the globe. Their aim is to create an “Internet of Animals” and discover the hidden worlds of the planet’s wildlife.
Continued below.
The Many Ways Scientists Are Turning Birds Into Feathered Field Assistants
From frigatebirds and gulls to curlews and cormorants, researchers are tapping the ”Internet of Animals” to map, understand, and protect our changing world.
