We closed our trapping program on Sunday, having deployed 7 hi-tech collars to collect data on the mechanics of cheetah locomotion, hunting characteristics, and social interaction. The collars will be active and collecting data for the next 6 months, before automatically dropping off on a pre-programmed date in February. To facilitate downloading the data periodically, our partners at the Royal Veterinary College have devised innovative field download stations for deployment at each marking tree trapping site (as seen in the photos). A computer at the station can “sense” when a collared cheetah returns to the marking tree and will then automatically download the accumulated data from the collar. This should save us enormous amounts of time in data retrieval, as we only need to periodically service (and download from) each field station – rather than having to repeatedly track and find each cat in the field for proximity downloads. The download stations are solar powered and, once erected, we surrounded them with thorny acacia braches to prevent hyenas and other overly-curious animals from disrupting or damaging them.
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 15:46:58 +0000
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