Satellite Monitoring

Why collar and track wildlife?

tracking_elephant_collarTracking to study the spatial ecology of wildlife is an effective approach to develop novel solutions for maintaining and protecting wildlife populations and their environment. It is a tool that provides us with a baseline of information about their habitat needs, density and distribution, demography, ecology, behaviour and social organization. Political boundaries, rapidly expanding human settlements, veterinary fences, farming, poaching, and civil conflict have contributed to blocking migration and dispersal routes which are essential for wildlife to access natural resources.

This project made the first attempt to record and map large-scale elephant movements across the international boundaries of five African countries. To date EWB has deployed state-of-the-art satellite tracking collars on more than 200 elephants in Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Angola and along the borders of Zimbabwe.

We also implemented the large herbivore program, deploying collars, monitoring migratory species such as: zebra, buffalo and wildebeest throughout  Botswana; forest ranging species, sable and roan; and deployed collars for the first time ever on both giraffe and lechwe in Botswana. Integrating these other large species into the conservation equation provides a strong, effective visual catalyst for conservation and land use management.

To learn more about specific projects:
Elephant Research
Herbivore Research

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