Answer from Dr. K. Ullas Karanth, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS): Radio-collars have been in use since the 1960s on a variety of animals ranging in size from small birds to whales..tigers included. When professionally done it does not interfere with the normal activities of the animals. Over a 100 wild tigers have been fitted with radio-collars since the 1970s and no adverse effects on mating or reproduction have been observed. I have personally observed radio-collared tigers mating without a problem. … Read More
Q: What are the advantages and hazards of radio-collaring wild animals, particularly elephants?
Answer from Shekar Dattatri of Conservation India:
Radio-collaring of animals is a tried and tested method of studying free-ranging wild animals that has been in practice for several decades. It is primarily used for tracking the movement and activity patterns of the tagged animal, with the signals being sent to a handheld device or to a computer via a satellite. It is often the only method that is available for studying the movement and activity patterns of a secretive species … Read More
Leopard Trapped In Well, Maharashtra
This leopard chased a village dog and fell into a percolation well in Takli Dokeshwar village, Ahmednagar district. These percolation wells which dot the landscape are at ground level without a parapet wall (and mostly surrounded by shrubbery) and it is common for leopards to fall in them. The leopard (named Ajoba by the study team; codenamed 5863) was captured with the help of a ladder (that led to a cage) and then fitted with a GPS+ collar. It was … Read More
Elephant Tranquilized For Radio-collaring Dies In Coimbatore Forests
The second elephant that was a target for radio collaring as part of efforts to monitor problematic herds, died after being tranquilized. Forest officials had already successfully radio collared the first elephant last week. The second elephant was found in the Thadagam range after intensive searching by trackers. The tusker which was targeted for radio collaring was found in a brick kiln and after all preparatory arrangements, the animal was tranquilized. It appears that the elephant ran amok after being … Read More
Regular Crop Raider Tusker Radio-collared in Wayanad, Kerala
A 40-year old tusker, which is said to be a regular crop raider in the Sulthan Bathery area of Wayanad, has been radio collared. The radio collar will help monitor the animals movements and help warn villagers about its movements. Trackers had spotted the animal in the Arakunchi forest and though it tried to evade the trackers, the forest officials kept up the chase and eventually tranquilized the elephant. An expert team then took biometrical measurements of the elephant before … Read More
No signal from translocated tiger in Sariska
JAIPUR: Having successfully completed the first phase of relocation of tigers to Sariska, it is testing time for forest authorities. Since the past three days, authorities have not received any signal from the radio collar of the T-12, a male tiger, which was recently relocated to Sariska. T-12 has been rechristened as ST-4 after its relocation.
“Whenever a tiger comes to a new surrounding it is a matter of habit that it strays off to distant areas in order to … Read More
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