PRESS RELEASE: Wildlife Drones world first radio and GPS tracking of rare goannas

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In a world first, a small, high-tech Australian company has used a combination of both radio and GPS tracking technology on a drone to remotely collect information on the movements of rare Rosenberg’s Goannas in Namadgi National Park, ACT.

Wildlife Drones researcher, Dr Debbie Saunders, said “For the first time, we have an innovative drone system that can not only locate radio-tagged wildlife but also download logged GPS data at the same time.”

Rare Rosenberg’s Goannas have been fitted with both radio and GPS tags by volunteer researcher, Dr Don Fletcher, and his team from the National Parks Association, using equipment paid for partly by an Environment Grant from the ACT Government, to shed light on the movements of this elusive species. However, in order to retrieve all the movement data, they previously had to navigate dense and rugged terrain in order to locate each individual goanna.

Dr Fletcher said “If we can just fly a drone overhead and collect GPS data without having to negotiate cliffy areas and Blackthorn scrub, it would save lots of time and energy and a few twisted ankles”.

“It’s been really exciting to demonstrate what our technology is capable of. In addition to being able to radio-track and download GPS data from multiple ground-dwelling animals, we were also able to detect signals from a tagged goanna when it was underground in a wombat burrow” said Dr Saunders.

Wildlife Drones technology has become a real game changer in efforts to understand movements of both threatened and invasive species globally.

Dr Saunders said “Until now the radio tracking of wildlife has relied on researchers walking for hours on end with their arm in the air searching for the signal of one animal at a time. Researchers have also needed to constantly seek higher ground to improve signal detection. But with Wildlife Drones, a high point can be created almost anywhere and the task of locating multiple animals and downloading GPS data within rugged landscapes is now possible.”

February 20, 2019/by Reland Pigte

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