Tracking wildlife from space
Queensland’s “Crocs in Space” satellite monitoring project has aroused world-wide interest from conservationists and crocodile experts.
Dr Mark Read of the State’s parks and wildlife service says it’s the first time in the world that satellites have been used to track the giant salt water reptiles. But it’s not just crocodilian experts who’ve shown interest in the project – there have been inquiries about using the technology from scientists studying other species, including elephants.
“Crocs in Space” is a joint venture between Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo, the University of Queensland and the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, a collaboration that Dr Read described as a great combination.
He said the collaboration joined experts from organisations with different cultures, which meant that a wider range of perspectives were brought to the research than would be the case if only one party conducted the research.
The project has proven that satellite transmitters can be used to track crocodiles and the information gained has changed fundamental views about crocodile behaviour.
It is invaluable for determining crocodile management policies, especially in areas where humans and the ancient predators cohabit.
The estuarine crocodile is considered a vulnerable species. This new research
will help the challenge of balancing conservation and management of a potentially
dangerous animal.
The data is vital to the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service’s crocodile management program and will help it manage the potential interactions between people and crocodiles in populated areas.
The project has exploded the traditional belief that one large male controlled one section of a river, excluding all other males from that territory. Research showed that they tolerate each other’s presence in the same stretch of water.
The second stage of the study is now underway. Nine crocodiles have been fitted with transmitters on Cape York, and Dr Read said “staggering information” is being sent back.
The crocodiles can travel great distances if need be – one 3.1 metre animal in this second stage study travelled more than 100 kilometres in 20 days.
“They’re habitat-specific,” he said. “We’ve found that when you move a crocodile from its home territory to a different region, they spend some time reorienting themselves before returning to their original home.
“This research will help us manage crocodile behaviour well into the future.”
Crocodiles are not the only animals being studied through satellite transmissions in Queensland at the Blair Athol coal mine the same technology is being used to monitor koala behaviour.
It's the first time in the world koalas have been studied in this way.
The project is a joint venture between the Rio Tinto mining group, which operates the Blair Athol mine, and the University of Queensland¹s Department of Zoology.
Project leader Dr Bill Ellis said that originally radio transmitters were attached to collars on the koalas but he quickly realised the animals ranged over a much larger territory than he'd thought.
" They moved out of range we just couldn't track them," he said. "But by using satellites we have no problem.
"In the Blair Athol region, the koala density is one animal to roughly 100 hectares so the behaviour is much different to that of koalas from more densely populated regions like coastal Queensland. At Blair Athol, for instance, they'll move up to one kilometre a night, particularly the males.
" By determining their behavioural patterns, we're better able to manage their conservation. But we also wanted to study their breeding habits. We find that babies in a particular area have fathers that have come from elsewhere.
"These travelling males trigger ovulation in the females when they enter their territory, and so they transmit to the offspring new genetic material.
"We're studying that gene flow so that we can test a new model for breeding koalas.
Last reviewed 19 January 2006
