The idea for collaring
Making the best use of current technologies
Dr. Christy Williams, coordinator of WWF’s Asian Rhino and Elephant Action Strategy (AREAS), never goes anywhere without a digital camera, laptop and GPS unit in tow. Whenever he hears about a new technology reaching the market, he ponders how he can best adapt it to his research in the field.
And his high-tech interest is matched by Raymond Alfred, the project coordinator for AREAS in
Christy and Raymond conceived the project to satellite-collar
“Our field team has tracked elephants on foot for weeks at a time to gather data, but it’s very difficult and labor-intensive,” Raymond says. “We are still in the process of figuring out how to get optimum outputs from the use of this technology.”
Raymond and Christy worked with a South African company that adapted technology which uses satellite tracking systems to let transportation companies monitor the whereabouts of their shipments. These systems help the U.S. Army track truck convoys in
At least once a day, a satellite positioned over
“We’re attempting to get data every day from each elephant, but we’ll consider the project successful if we get three readings a week from each,” Christy explains. “Elephants like to walk in open areas if there is no disturbance, so they often come out onto logging roads in the evenings when there’s no traffic. We figure we’ll get most of our readings that way since the roads have a clear view of the sky - and the satellite - above.”
In a few years, he’s confident that WWF will be able to use thermal imaging to track elephants in the forest or some other technology that is not available for civilian use yet. But until then, he’ll keep testing the limits of the technology already available.