Monday 22 June 2009
Hyaenas text messages could help protect the species
Text messages sent from hyaenas could help wildlife experts better understand their behaviour and movements. A study being carried out by a team at Nottingham Trent University is aiming to fit brown hyaenas with devices that transmit their location using mobile phone network text messages, whilst radio transmitters will help them to pin point their exact location and record their movements and behaviour.
With estimates of the brown hyaena population in South Africa thought to be less than 1,700, the species is known to be at risk because of the perceived danger that they pose towards livestock. Although legally protected, many farmers are known to kill the animals.
PhD student Louisa Richmond-Coggan, from Nottingham Trent University’s School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences, will fly to South Africa later this month. She’ll spend six months working with wildlife experts at the Pilanesberg National Park, to humanely capture four hyaenas roaming in farmland outside the protected park area. One hyaena will also be captured from within the protected area. Once caught, the team will attach special collars to the hyaenas that house a Global Positioning System (GPS) device and radio transmitter.
The GPS device relays the coordinates of the hyaena to the researchers via the text message systems of mobile phone networks, and the movement of the animal can be plotted using Google Earth. The radio transmitter within the collar then allows the experts to pinpoint the animal’s exact location whilst on the move, using a portable receiver.
Louisa’s research will help to identify the reasons for differences in density and distribution between brown hyaena populations both inside and outside protected areas. It is hoped that her findings will help to inform conservation and land management strategies so that threats to hyaenas in non-protected areas are reduced.
Louisa said: “I’m really excited about the research that we’re carrying out in this project. There is a strong argument that hyaenas are able to survive outside of protected areas, but we need to gather information to help us better understand what their habitat preferences are.”
Dr Richard Yarnell, an expert in biodiversity surveying from Nottingham Trent University, has secured a grant from National Geographic to support the research project, thanks to his expertise in using satellite tracking technology and radio collars for monitoring wildlife.
Dr Yarnell said: “Using technology in this way to track and monitor the behaviour of these animals should help us to secure a better future for them, and we’re confident that our results will be of real use for helping to influence policy decisions for conservation management.”
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