Satellite tracking is similar to VHF radio tracking, but instead of a radio signal being sent to a radio receiver a signal is sent to a satellite. They even make transmitters that can be swallowed by an animal or placed under an animal's skin! Radio transmitters used to be fairly large and were only used on larger animals, but improvements in technology have allowed scientists to create much smaller transmitters that can be attached to small animals. Scientists using an antenna and receiver can then locate the animal from a plane in the air or from a vehicle or on foot on the ground by following the radio signal. This works just like a car radio works! When a radio station sends a signal the radio antenna on the car picks up the signal and the radio receiver, when tuned to that radio station's channel, turns that signal into music or talk or whatever the radio station is broadcasting!
In order to locate an animal using VHF radio tracking, scientists must be close enough to the animal with the radio antenna so they can pick up the signal from the radio transmitter on the animal. Once the radio transmitter is placed on the animal, it begins transmitting a signal to a radio antenna and receiver. While the animal is asleep, the scientists gather information about the health and condition of the animal. In order to use VHF radio tracking, a radio transmitter is placed on the animal. Scientists have been using VHF radio tracking since 1963. VHF Radio Tracking, Satellite Tracking and Global Positioning System (GPS) Tracking. There are three types of radio tracking systems used today.
By analyzing all this data, scientists can learn new ways to help control animal populations, determine what impact development might have on an animal population, and determine if there are enough individuals of a particular species in an area to allow for reproduction. Radio tracking technology can help determine exactly where an animal is at any moment in time and often what that animal is doing! Using the data collected from tracking devices, scientists can determine the day-to-day movements of an animal, the size of an animal's home range, what other animals share an animal's range and the types of habitats an animal uses.
Today, scientists have new tools to help them determine how animals move and how they use their environment. For many years the only way to track wildlife was to simply follow and observe the movement and habits of an animal or to capture an animal and put a tag on it and hope that at sometime in the future that same animal would be recaptured.
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