Tagging wildlife alters animal behavior for days, reports new research. The findings highlight a need for longer tracking periods to better understand animal behavior in the wild. The corresponding study was published in Nature Communications.
Animal tracking devices that enable the study of wildlife movement are essential for understanding animal behavior responses to environmental changes and nature conservation.
While these devices have significantly added to science and conservation efforts so far, concerns have arisen over their potentially adverse effects on study animals. The capture and handling process involves many stress-inducing and physically demanding events stemming from physical capture, chemical immobilization, and restraint. Nevertheless, how exactly animal tracking affects animals is understudied.
In the current study, researchers analyzed post-tagging effects on 1585 animals of 42 terrestrial mammal species, including leopards, lynx, and moose, via collar-collected GPS and accelerometer data. They analyzed data for 20 days post-release. Overall, dynamic body acceleration was used as a proxy for activity and enabled the researchers to quantify disturbance intensity, recovery duration, and speed.
Ultimately, the researchers found that over 70% of species exhibited significant behavioral changes after being collared. Herbivores traveled further with variable activity reactions, whereas omnivores and carnivores were less active and mobile to begin with.
The researchers noted that recovery occurred quickly, with the majority of behavioral variations diminishing within 4-7 days for most of the species. They further noted that animals in areas with a high human footprint displayed faster recovery, signaling adaptation to human disturbance.
“Our evaluation clearly shows that the periods over which wild animals are tracked should be longer than one week in order to obtain meaningful results and to actually be able to study their natural behavior,” co-lead author Jonas Stiegler, a PhD student at the Institute of Biochemistry and Biology at the University of Potsdam, Germany, said in a press release.
Sources: Neuroscience News, Nature Communications