GPS Trackers Assist Wild Horse Researchers

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/MacEM)
by Greg Bartlett

If you were around in the late 1990’s you will most likely be pretty familiar with the movie The Man from Snowy River.  It was popular because it featured a love story set in the breathtaking Australian outback.  Although some women might disagree, Jim Craig (the hero of the movie) was not the true star of the movie; the true heroes were the beautiful wild horses known as the Brumbies.  They were wildly beautiful, and the fact that they couldn’t be tamed made them just that more intriguing.  The movie was such as success that there was a sequel, Return to Snowy River, just a few years later.

[caption id="attachment_5072" align="alignright" width="299" caption="GPS Tracking & Wild Horses"][/caption]

Regardless of the successes of the movies, the fame for the Brumbies was growing.  It was growing so much, in fact, that scientists in Australia and other countries were very interested in studying these beautiful horses more closely.  Some of these scientists decided that they would like to take the research to the next level.  They began a process of outfitting these Brumbies with GPS trackers.

There are three basic types of GPS trackers:  data loggers, data pushers, and data pullers.  Data loggers are also known as passive GPS trackers.  This is because these trackers are not intended to give the exact location of a vehicle or asset at a certain time.  Data loggers are only intended to record, or “log,” the travel patterns of the person, vehicle, or asset that is carrying the tracker.  Data pushers and pullers are real time GPS trackers.  This means that they record and send out the exact location of the vehicle or asset in real time.  The data pusher sends (or pushes) the tracker’s location intermittently every few minutes.  The data puller also sends out the location every few minutes, but you can also “pull up” the location on demand whenever you need it.  The real time GPS trackers are very helpful when following an employee, a teenage driver, or even a suspected criminal.

These types are not necessary when tracking the Brumbies.  The scientists are only interested in the migration and living habits of the Brumbies; they don’t really care to locate them within the Australian wilderness.  Because of this, data loggers are the best choice.  Because they are wild horses, outfitting the Brumbies with the devices takes some doing!  They horses are tranquilized for less than 3 minutes, and they are fitted with a GPS tracker collar.  So far, the trackers have given the scientists amazing information to assist with their research.