Students From University of Georgia Track African Predators With GPS Technology

10 lucky students from UGA spent the summer in Africa studying the great predators of Kalahari. The team travelled to Botswana for a 28-day study abroad experience through the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. “The main focus of the program was to get an understanding of international wildlife preservation issues,” Luis Candelerio explained, a Warnell School graduate student and head of the research program.

“We’d set up camera traps, which are like little infrared triggered cameras,” Gagat said. “We’d bait those traps and pull the data off cards. They were taking about 100 pictures a day.” The team not only observed the animals, they also tagged them with GPS tracking devices. With GPS, the students were able to monitor the movement of the predators from a safe distance.

“We did capture four lions and one leopard,” he added. “Some of them we were putting collars on and some of them we were taking collars off. One of them we were switching out a broken collar.”

“My favorite part about studying abroad in Botswana was just being able to study in such a remote location with such a diverse ecosystem,” said Sonia Vail, a junior wildlife and fisheries major. “I learned so much bout the locate habitat and culture in such a short period of time.”

The experience of being in Africa, studying wildlife was life-changing for many of the students. “In the Warnell, we pretty much study North American and heavily focus on southeastern North American because that’s what we have access to,” Gagat explained. “Being able to go to a different country with a completely different ecosystem and a completely different dynamic of predator to prey environment was really kind of an eye-opener for what’s out there.”

Google+
Students From University of Georgia Track African Predators With GPS Technology