SHEFFIELD, England (Reuters) - Scientists are using satellite tracking devices to keep an eye on an endangered species of wild dogs in South Africa and red deer that are destroying forests in the highlands of Scotland.
Unlike radio transmitters which have a limited range, satellites allow researchers in Scotland to follow the movement of packs of wild dogs in South Africa's Kruger National Park.
``These systems weren't developed specifically for people to follow mammals -- we have borrowed the technology,'' Dr Martyn Lee Gorman told a news conference on Friday at the British Association for the Advancement of Science festival.
The zoology professor and his colleagues at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and in South Africa are using the ARGOS satellite system and the Global Positioning System (GPS) that was developed by the United States for military purposes.
Transmitters attached to the animals send out signals picked up by the ARGOS system. The satellites calculate the transmitter's position on the Earth's surface.
``The GPS system works in a completely different manner. You have a receiver on the animal and that uses radio signals from a number of satellites in the Earth's orbit to calculate its own position on the Earth,'' Gorman explained.
The information can be stored for up to a year and then downloaded to a laptop computer, via a radio link, to provide information on where the animals have been.
``This has serious implication for the best way to manage areas for the benefit of endangered wild dogs -- in the contemporary African landscape dogs only do well where there are few, or no lions,'' Gorman said.
The scientists are tracking deer in Scotland to gather information to manage the regeneration of trees which deers like to feed on. Other groups around the world are using similar technology to track polar bears, moose, turtles and the albatross.
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