GPS Tracking Reveals Surprisingly Massive Zebra Migration in Africa

One of the many amazing uses of GPS technology is wildlife research and conservation. With the help of satellites, researchers can monitor the movements of different species in their natural habitat. Observing animals in the wild or even in captivity can tell us a lot about a creature’s needs and behavior, but there is always the factor of human interference to consider. Wildlife is likely to behave differently when they can see, hear or smell humans. With GPS tracking collars, researchers can observe the natural, truly wild behavior of animals.

Image courtesy of wwarby

Another benefit of the technology is simply being able to track a species over massive treks of land, air or sea, which would otherwise be difficult and very time consuming for researchers to attempt in the field. A great example of this benefit can be seen in the results of a recent zebra tracking study in Africa. The World Wildlife Fund released an educational video about the zebra migration study, featuring the GPS tracking devices used to monitor the mammals. The conservation group said this about the study:

“Tracking wildlife movement is critical to conservation. This zebra was safely tranquilized and collared in 2012, documenting a recorded migration for land mammals in Africa. Eight collared zebras were tracked via GPS making a round trip of more than 300 miles between Botswana and Nambia two years in a row. That’s the largest land migration ever recorded in Africa. As migratory routes for many species are increasingly disrupted and declining, this research shows these animals need wide open spaces in order to survive.”

“It goes to show us that nature still has some surprises,” Robin Naidoo said, senior conservation scientist at the Washington-based World Wildlife Fund which led the zebra migration study. “This is the longest known land migration in Africa, in terms of distance between endpoints.” The researchers used female zebras because they tend to stick with the herd. Male zebras also can be tougher on the GPS collars than female zebras. The collars transmitted the zebra’s exact location to the researchers every four to five hours.

The first half of the zebras’ journey lasts about three weeks during November and December. Scientists believe they are searching for fresh grazing pastures at the Nxai Pan National Park in Botswana. Because of the rainy season, there is plenty of food and water to last the average of 10 weeks before the zebras begin their trek back tot he Chobe River along the Namibia/Botswana border. “The findings of this study emphasize the importance of trans-frontier conservation areas in conservation of the greater landscape,” chief conservation scientist at MET in Nambia, Pierre Du Preez, said. “This study has played a crucial role in helping determine a crucial wildlife corridor in KAZA.”

“In order to fully understand whether we’re doing a good job at conserving wide-ranging species like zebra, we need a detailed understanding of their space requirements and movement patterns,” explained Naidoo. More studies will need to be done in order to determine just how ingrained the migration path is for the zebras. If they take the same route year after year, it suggests that the migration pattern could be passed down through the generations, possibly even in the DNA of the mammals.

“Even though people have been fascinated by animal migration since the dawn of history, we are just scratching the surface in terms of understanding which animals migrate, where they go, and how they do it,” explained David Wilcove, conservation expert from Princeton University, who was not a part of the zebra study.

Some of the migration path is through human-dominated regions, so it could be very useful to see how the zebras are affected by the presence of humans. In the late 1960s a fence was placed in the middle of a zebra migration route. It was removed in 2004, and according to research, around 15,000 zebras used the reopened path during their migration in 2008 through 2009.

With more data, researchers hope to incentivize and effort to expand a protected area across countries. Not only with more wildlife reserves help protect endangered species, they can also be a great source of tourist revenue. “In the same way that we’re concerned with saving numbers of species and habitats, we should also be concerned with conserving phenomena that are inspiring spectacles in the world of nature. Mass migration are one of those,” Naidoo said.

“We all yearn for that, the romance of wild, open spaces,” said Mike Chase, leader of Botswana-based Elephants Without Borders, who also participated in the zebra migration study. “There are very few places left on our planet where animals and wildlife have the natural ability to roam in the context in which they evolved over thousands of years.”

GPS Tracking Reveals Surprisingly Massive Zebra Migration in Africa