For studying ecologists Wolverines – The buoyant forest of North America and the Arctic tundra, the Nordic mainland of Europe and the medium-sized carnivores found throughout northern Russia – The technology you see on a smartphone provides an unparalleled view of how these animals behave.
Twenty-five years ago, the only technology to study the behavior of wild wolverines was the collar, which sent a radio signal that revealed the location of the animal. Biologists are lucky to find a collar animal 50 times a year, and they actually only see that animal a few times.
Today, we can attach a collar that weighs a similar amount to the animal, and let the creature know that every second of every day ends in months. For that, we can thank the triangular accelerometer.
Related: 50 most endangered species on the planet
Although the name sounds like something you’d like to see on a verbal and future spacecraft, the triangular axis accelerometer can be found on a number of consumer devices. Smart phones, fitness watches and health monitors all use accelerometers to measure daily activities by evaluating movement in three directions and storing data over time.
Simple accelerometers vary when we exercise and relax (and may motivate us to move a little more). More complex accelerometers vary between specific functions. Have you ever wondered how Nintendo Swell knows that you are hitting the virtual tennis ball? It is an accelerometer. Or how many steps do you take, or how does your smartphone know when you are driving a car? Accelerometer, again.
This technology also provides an amazing new tool for wildlife experts. In general, we only get brief views of wildlife life, especially elusive ones like wolverines. Now, we can attach a tool to them – a kind of miniaturized smartphone, if you will – capable of constantly monitoring their behavior for months.
It is not easy to use acceleration scale from people to wildlife. How to get a device when tearing a wolverine carp, as opposed to browsing across the Arctic tundra? In applications for humans, the triangular axis accelerometer “learns” how to recognize actions such as walking, dancing or exercise, which can then be used on a smartphone application or Wii remote.
We found that with the help of zoos it is possible to establish parallel mechanisms for wildlife, which we describe in our study detailed in the November issue of the journal Environmental information. The same technology that enabled mobile device engineers to train smartphones using data from humans has enabled us to train accelerometers to identify the behavior of wild wolverines based on the observation of captive animals.
For two weeks, we observed three wolverines with triangular axis accelerometers at the Nortens Arc Wildlife Sanctuary in Bohslin., Sweden, with a commitment to protect endangered and endangered species. Each day, we recorded the timing and duration of Wolverine’s different behaviors. We extracted the accelerometer data in the lab and developed a mechanism that combines the data with actions such as running, relaxing, sorting, and eating.
Wonderful area uses all of these for wolverines in the wild. To do that, we fitted seven wolverines in Arctic Alaska with GPS collars and accelerometers for about three months. To ensure that the collars would eventually drop, we attached them with “rot-away” strips that were steadily deteriorating at the time. When we recovered the tools, we used the algorithm we had created for these wild wolverines, which gave us an unprecedented window into their lives.
We are still working on all the data, but we know that wolverines generally like to rest in the afternoons and evenings, starting their patrols at midnight. We also began to explore how vigilant they are under different conditions (how much time they spend scanning their environment), an important survival technique for an animal that is sometimes hunted and killed. Wolves. The data may also reveal its implications Climate change And human infrastructure on Wolverine behavior.
Moving forward, the ability to learn from triangular axis accelerometers will grow, triggered by new advances for use in smart devices and home entertainment. So, keep in mind that the next time you download the latest offer from the App Store, you can preview the next best technology for security.
Roberts and Klaus contributed this article to Live Science Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
The views expressed are those of the authors and they do not reflect the views of the publisher. This version of the article was originally published in Live Science.
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