Cheetah tracking Plotting the movements of a cheetah by cellular collar
Nala was fitted with a GSM collar from African Wildlife Tracking, a relatively recent development in satellite collars which works via the cellular network. The collar was programmed to send her location once every 12 hours.
Since then it has been working wonderfully and really shows how powerful a tool these new collar designs can be.
If you have a broadband connection you can see our exciting interactive Tracking Map. This opens in a new window.
It makes use of Google Maps to show the path taken by Nala.
She was very mobile until by week 17 it can be seen that she had chosen a denning site to have her cubs. Its fascinating to see that by week 18 she had had the cubs and stayed at the den site, moving out to get food and returning back to the den regularly. In week 23 she started moving again, this time accompanied by her cubs. Some days she travelled quite far with them teaching them essential skills to live in the wild.
The barchart overlay shows clearly how Nala's movements became more restricted while the cubs were very young.
Its been a great journey so far. Cheetahs outside of protected areas are elusive, shy and difficult to see. We have learnt so much about Nala and her cubs with this new technology that wouldn't have been possible otherwise.
(For Nala and her cubs safety, please note that this presentation represents the movements of Nala some time ago and gives no clues as to her current whereabouts.)
(All data remains the property of Cheetah Conservation Botswana and is not to be reproduced without permission)
|
Cheetah tracking
