Hi Nickolay,

I saw that for animal tracking is very common to use sunlight-based positioning systems. I have done some research in this area ( http://sgpsproject.sourceforge.net/wiki ). The advantages are that these systems can last for years with single batteries while GPS systems consume lots of energy. The problem is that the accuracy is not very good depending on the applications. There are companies which sell these systems. I can look for the links if you are interested.

The problem is accuracy, in my opinion 15-30m - usually even less (it is common accuracy GPS) for this problem is enough. The second problem is the time (how long schould devices work - battery problem). The next problem is the frequency of information you want have on your computer. (for example you can use GPS-GSM system (or modem) and send positions via GPRS (figh frequency) or SMS (low - in packages) or simply store this information "on carrier - animal" and read after reaserch). First term the specifaction.

Hi, Together with a Russian GPS/Glonass specialist we have produced ourselves very nice GPS GSM trackers which work in areas with cell phone cover. We are developing now also another type with an Iridium modem which works anywhere in the world. We have worked with wildlife in Belarus and Latvia. Working in Western Siberia would be a nice challenge for us.

Nickolay, I know works of Addy with otters in Belarus and Latvia, and personally know persons he cooperated with. My advice is to test possibilty of cooperation, this should be fruitful. Best wishes.

By the way, we are testing first camera for wildlife - at last!

Hi, I suggest that you contact Per Ericsson or Holger Dettki at Umeå University in Sweden for information. They have a long experience in tagging mammals and tracking them by GPS.

Best wishes,

Susanne Åkesson

There is a new low cost GPS device, very ligth and wich comunicates wireslly among each other, making it easy to retrieve data. Also, it use very few battery and can be dimensioned to many uses: http://mataki.org/

Some people I know are effectively using it for Toucans. I think it would fit perfectly for Roe Deers.

Привет Николай

You would need GPS/GSM or GPS/Iridium collars, and some luck

Some papers

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261061945_White-Tailed_Deer_%28Odocoileus_virginianus%29_Suburban_Habitat_Use_along_Disturbance_Gradients?ev=prf_pub

Near-real time map (at the moment no animals are on air, but we will resume trapping soon)

http://ep.faculty.brynathyn.edu/Deer/map4.html

another paper

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259009237_Extreme_dynamic_mapping_Animals_map_themselves_on_the_Cloud?ev=prf_pub

Удачи!

Article White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) Suburban Habitat ...

Article Extreme dynamic mapping: Animals map themselves on the "Cloud"

Hello!

I did a monitoring of roe deer in Switzerland and we also wanted to know how they use the territory. We divided the area in equal squares and we used cam traps that we placed on deer tracks in each square (1 perpendiculary to the path, one facing it). We got pictures of the animals and we have been able to identify all the males. Then, we wanted to use a model to know how big the pop was according to the number of males, but we don't know how to use CAPTURE...!

Thanks to the pictures, we have been anyway able to tell in front of how many cam one individual was observed, so to determine its homerange and the frequency of the encounters.

If I can be of any other help, just ask!

Emilie

Thanks everybody for answering and huge amount of useful information, it will take time to follow all links and contact people! But I'm sure it will help us!

Dear Emilie, I thought that I could use camera traps in this study, but the problem is that big part of the area is treeless, so we cannot attach the traps, thus this methos is rejected for while.

Linas, thank you very much, good luck with the camera!

Hi Linas, Indeed good luck with the camera for wildlife.

Eugene, привет! You article on using cloud techologies for processing of data in very interesting, thanks a lot!

Hi. Nickolay. I've used a similar system to Emilie Tournier to estimate the roe deer population, but with a spatial capture-recapture (you can see the code and data in https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236677110_Estima_de_una_poblacin_de_corzo_mediante_modelos_de_captura-_recaptura_clsicos_y_espacialmente_explcitos).

If you are interest in organize the GPS data, I think a good way is using R+adehabitat.

Article Estima de una población de corzo mediante modelos de captura...

Have a look at elephant GPS tracking in Kenya and subsequent data-stream analysis by Shadrack Ngene and myself. For advanced GPS point data analyze of elephant (and other large herbivores) please refer to my articles with Claudia Pittiglio from Tanzania, also on ResearchGate. Hope it gives you some helpful ideas and references.

We have used Tellus Followit collars on badgers and they are extremely effective at giving great data with litte effort. However you do need to replace the batteries every 6 months, so need to be able to recapture the animals. You can remotely release to collars too, so if your study is less than 6 months long, you can avoid having to recapture.

Good luck with the study!

trackers got quite cheap, you may even get it from old mobile phones! How remote is your study area? The more northern the trickier it gets (lower satelitte coverage), also coldness takes its charge on the batteries.

Gerith, yes. we are thinking now about systems that use GSM modules, but we are only thinking so far.. can you give some details about old mobile phones? Our study are is at about 55 N and presumably open space, so we think there won't be mich problems with coverage

Hi. Do you know the ICARUS initiative?

http://icarusinitiative.org/

ICARUS invites Russian scientists to propose scientific projects which are focused on movement ecology of animals.

I send you a list of interesting links:

Televit http://wildlife.followit.se/

Microensory System Division http://www.microsensory.com/microsensory/

Andreas Wagener http://www.wagener-telemetrie.de/

Vectronic http://www.vectronic-aerospace.com/wildlife.php

Sirtrack http://www.sirtrack.com/

Telenax http://www.telenax.com/en/

Lotek http://www.lotek.com/gps7000.htm

Biotrak http://www.biotrack.co.uk/index.php

Biosonic http://www.biosonicstelemetry.com/

Yaesu receptores http://www.locuradigital.com/escaner/yaesu/vr500.htm

Hope this help,

Jose

Thanks, Jose! I wasn't aware of Icarus initiative. We can try to apply for roe deer in south of Western Siberia, however we'd like more general solution for tracking animals in more northern areas, while ICARUS transmitters covers the area from 60N to 60S.

This answer is a bit late and you probably have sorted yourself out already. In South Africa we use a company called African Wildlife Tracking. They provide a range of robust products which lasts well for African animals. http://www.awt.co.za/

I have been using collars for tracking studies for a number of years now,if you need more advise feel free to contact me