An award is made to the University of California, Santa Cruz to develop a new generation of animal tracking collars and tags for terrestrial and marine mammals that use the animal's own locomotion to power the device. The Energy Scavenging Collar for Animal Physiology and Ecology (ESCAPE) will revolutionize the study of wild animals by dramatically increasing the deployment time of animal biologgers while greatly reducing the cost of and need for re-collaring or re-tagging wild animals. The ESCAPE will lead to significant advances in animal physiology and ecology research by enabling scientists to evaluate the physiological and behavioral responses of wild animals to long-term changes in the environment. The project will use a laboratory-to-field approach to: (1) Design a power-scavenging device that uses the locomotion of the animal to charge an onboard capacitor and battery. (2) Integrate the power generation device with a GPS, accelerometers, and magnetometers to measure animal behavior, energetics, and movement. (3) Test the ESCAPE on three terrestrial species (domestic dogs, trained elephants and wild mountain lions) and its potential assessed on two marine mammal species (trained dolphins and sea lions).
This comparative approach will allow the research to evaluate the ramifications of locomotory mode, body mass and environment on the functionality and durability of the collars or tags. These tests will also provide a "proof of concept" regarding the collar's capability to collect, store, and send various types of longitudinal data. By relying on animal movement to charge the device, ESCAPE will provide up to order-of-magnitude increases in tag deployment time, allowing researchers to compile long-term data sets crucial for the study of wild animal physiology and ecology. The development of the ESCAPE will leverage a unique interdisciplinary team from the Departments of Environmental Studies, Ecology and Evolution, Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering. The ESCAPE collar is expected to be widely adopted by the research community at large and lead to breakthroughs in animal ecology, conservation and management. The insights gleaned from these collars will also greatly inform public understanding of animal behavior and conservation. Outreach activities associated with the research will include presentations at professional academic conferences, monthly public lectures, field trips for middle and high school children, as well as the production of a professional video showcasing the ESCAPE technology. Details on how to purchase ESCAPE collars will be made available at wildlife.ucsc.edu.
