Tag can detect an array of
different actions by animals in minute detail such as a ‘double take’ when
a penguin sees a squid or how an unhappy elephant walks
Ian
Johnston at the British Science Festival, Swansea
Thursday 8 September 2016
Scientists attached GPS trackers
to a group of 16 albatrosses in the Indian Ocean. They recorded the birds
flying at speeds of up to 67mph using a ‘dynamic soaring’ technique, which
enables them to fly thousands of miles depending on the wind David Osborn/Alamy
Albatrosses fish for squid by
spending hours paddling around in circles to stir up bioluminescent organisms
on the surface of the sea, a revolutionary new tag that even can sense
animals’ emotions has discovered.
About 100 different species
– from penguins to cheetahs to humans – have been tagged with the
device, which monitors a number of factors such as speed, orientation,
temperature, light and pressure.
It is so sensitive that the
inventors describe the information it can produce as a “daily diary” of an
animal’s life.
For example, it can detect when a
penguin sitting down on its nest gets up, takes a few steps in its trademark
waddle, shakes itself, dives into the water, where it swims and even the moment
it catches a squid.
This can be used to work out
whether a particular penguin population is struggling to find enough food to
cover the energy expended when fishing.
The tags, which cost about
£400, have also been able to detect a different walking style used by
elephants when they are happy or sad.
It gives such a detailed picture
of the way animals behave it could even be used to predict what they are likely
to do next.
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