From VHF to satellite GPS collars—Advancements in snow leopard telemetry

Abstract

Snow leopards occur at low densities and inhabit an extremely inhospitable environment. Effectively studying a species like this is best done through the use of telemetry. The first telemetry studies of the snow leopard occurred in the 1980s and 1990s using very high frequency (VHF) technology. Although these VHF studies began to provide new insights into the ecology of snow leopards, they also had significant limitations and were far from the perfect tool. The advent of satellite-based telemetry in the 1990s, however, began to revolutionize research into the species. For the first time, and with increasing effectiveness, researchers were not obligated to gather data through arduous and often fruitless hours and days of fieldwork. Over time, the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite collars became the norm, and they are increasingly accurate and sophisticated. They have now enabled researchers to gather vast amounts of high-quality data in time- and resource-efficient ways and are less disruptive to the collared animal that earlier telemetry technology.

Keywords

Collar; GPS telemetry; Panthera uncia; Snow leopard; Telemetry; Tracking; VHF telemetry

Published in

Biodiversity of World: Conservation from Genes to Landscapes
2024, pages: 389-399
Title: Snow Leopards
Publisher: Elsevier

SLU Authors

• Johansson, Örjan

  • Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Snow Leopard Trust

UKÄ Subject classification

Zoology
Ecology

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-85775-8.00042-X
• ISBN: 9780323984584

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/129539