Latest news with #InternationalCooperationforAnimalResearchUsingSpace
CBC
28-02-2025
- Science
- CBC
How 'wearables for wildlife' are unlocking the secret knowledge of animals
A mini-cellphone on a goat's ear. A little backpack on a bird. A Fitbit on a whale. Scientists have a range of cute descriptions for the technology in The Secret Knowledge of Animals, a documentary from The Nature of Things. But the data provided by these small tracking devices, placed on a range of species all over the world, is revealing big things about what humans have witnessed for millennia but could never observe at this level — that animals can sense and predict things we cannot. And now, we can watch in real time. The tracking devices capture information about thousands of animals and their movements using GPS — and even video, sound and water temperature in some cases. Billions of data points are transmitted into space to a 10-by-10-centimetre receiver attached to a satellite about the size of a briefcase. The project is called the International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space, also known as ICARUS. All the data is published in Movebank, a free online database anyone can access. And since 2012, over 1,400 species have been entered, from elephants to butterflies. "These findings will aid behavioural research, species protection and research into the paths taken in the spread of infectious diseases," the ICARUS website says. "The information should even help to predict ecological changes and natural disasters." With ICARUS, scientists are learning what animals know, how they know it and what humans can learn from it. 'We can't really grasp it' After natural disasters, stories often surface about goats appearing to sense a volcanic eruption or cows seeming uneasy long before an earthquake. By then, however, it's too late — the event has already happened. One of many applications of ICARUS is to use animal behaviour to predict these events, says Martin Wikelski, biologist at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and founder of ICARUS. "[Animals] smell better. They hear better. They see better. They have ultrasound," he says in the documentary. "All of that combined is often what we call the sixth sense of animals because we can't really grasp it." Animals' sensory abilities often exceed our own, giving them a picture of the planet we can't see. The tracking devices — dubbed "wearables for wildlife" — and the resulting wealth of data are akin to giving humans predictive superpowers. Previous technology can't predict an earthquake — it can only warn people before seismic waves reach an area. And those warnings only come anywhere from a few seconds to more than a minute before the shaking begins. These goats know when a volcano is about to erupt – way before humans do 8 days ago Duration 1:50 Martin Wikelski and his colleagues studied the behaviour of goats prior to eight major volcanic eruptions at Mount Etna in Italy. Several hours before any sign of volcanic activity, nearby animals fled their pastures and headed down the mountain. Learn more in The Secret Knowledge of Animals, now streaming on CBC Gem and The Nature of Things YouTube channel. "If we look only at the seismic signals, we understand a very little part of the story," volcanologist Boris Behncke says in the film. At Mount Etna, Wikelski and his colleagues were able to measure the movements of goats and sheep, which accurately predicted major volcanic eruptions — several hours in advance. Given the lives that could be saved, the benefits of ICARUS are clear. "If your cow can give you information about an earthquake," he says, "this is a major change in our understanding, in our relationship, with animals." Saving species and the planet The ambitions of ICARUS reach beyond predicting disasters and saving human lives. For example, the documentary shows applications for thwarting poachers in Kruger National Park in South Africa. The renowned park spans nearly two million hectares, an expanse that's almost impossible to safeguard against illegal hunters seeking to slaughter elephants for their tusks and rhinos for their horns. But tracking animal movement revealed something fascinating: animals such as giraffes and impalas react differently to a human poacher than they do to an animal predator, like a lion. As the animals flee the poacher, data shows them scattering across the park. Their flight response essentially becomes an early alarm system, so rangers can zero in on poaching attempts. "I think my biggest worry would be that we're losing animals before we even know what they can tell us, before we communicate with them, before we can understand the amazing abilities they have," Wikelski says. "Because once we understand that, we will do everything to protect them." Another early alarm system: the behaviour of whales. With her team from Dalhousie University, marine biologist Sarah Fortune has been attaching suction-cup "biologgers" to four whale species. These tracking devices use GPS, video, sound and temperature and can record dive profiles, acceleration, changes in the Earth's magnetic field and the pitch and roll of the whales. "If you know where the whales are feeding and spending their time, you can get a better sense for the risks that they face from entanglement or ship strikes," Fortune says in the documentary. Protecting whales from harm runs parallel to another massive opportunity presented by this data — understanding our environment. "We know the Gulf Stream is changing, currents are changing, the oceans are warming as well," Fortune says. "The whales are going to mirror those changes. So they're kind of an indicator of climate change. In a sense, right whales are the canaries of the ocean." A 'golden era for biology' "We are at the beginning of a new era — a golden era — for biology," Wikelski says. "All these animals tell us different things about the world. And by tracking them, we can learn so much. Where are diseases hiding? Where are the next natural disasters occurring? How is the weather? How is the climate? Where are interactions between humans and animals? Where do we have to protect animals? All of those things, animals can tell us." ICARUS is helping us understand our present and future beyond anything possible before.
CBC
20-02-2025
- Science
- CBC
These animals can predict volcanic eruptions, massive storms and more
Social Sharing For thousands of years, humans have taken cues from animals that seem to have a sixth sense when it comes to impending natural disasters and changes in weather. Sicilian goat herders in the region surrounding the active volcano Mount Etna, for instance, have noticed behavioural changes in their goats prior to major volcanic eruptions for centuries. "But the key is: Are [the animals] sensing it early enough that we can use this information to potentially also warn people?" asks Martin Wikelski, a behavioural biologist at Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour, in the documentary The Secret Knowledge of Animals. Wikelski is the founder and director of the International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space, or ICARUS, initiative: a collaborative effort to track wildlife around the world. He believes technology can enable animals to share their knowledge with humans. Hundreds of thousands of solar-powered transmitter tags have been placed on animals across the globe, and the data about their movements and behaviour is teaching scientists about how animals respond to natural disasters, weather, poaching threats and more. The Secret Knowledge of Animals shows some of these animal teachers in action. Goats can predict volcanic eruptions Wikelski wanted to test if there was any truth to the local lore about goats predicting volcanic eruptions at Mount Etna, so he began studying the goats' movements in 2011. After monitoring the region's goats prior to eight major volcanic eruptions, Wikelski and his colleagues succeeded in measuring specific movements that can accurately predict a volcanic eruption — up to 14 hours in advance. Before any sign of volcanic activity, nearby animals flee their pastures higher up the volcano and head down toward the forest. It is still not known exactly what senses the goats are using to predict these events, but Wikelski speculates that they may be able to smell certain gases like sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide, which are released prior to an eruption. Similar research could also be used to help predict earthquakes. These goats know when a volcano is about to erupt – way before humans do 6 hours ago Duration 1:50 Migratory birds know how to avoid tsunamis and cyclones The bristle-thighed curlew nests in the remote tundra of Alaska and migrates to islands in the central and south Pacific for the winter. "A number of published scientific studies have shown that migratory birds are able to deviate from their migration route; they can change direction to avoid an oncoming hurricane," Frédéric Jiguet, an ornithologist at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, says in French in The Secret Knowledge of Animals. "When the air currents get too strong, especially in cyclones, they land to avoid getting caught. So all this means that there's a certain amount of premonition around weather conditions that enables them to adapt. " Jiguet and his colleagues at the Kivi Kuaka project believe that bristle-thighed curlews could help protect local human populations from extreme weather. They are recording the birds' movements using satellite telemetry, in conjunction with the ICARUS initiative, to develop an early warning system that may one day protect islanders from impending disasters, like tornadoes and tsunamis. Bats leave clues about future viral outbreaks Straw-coloured fruit bats, also known as eidolons, are the most numerous mammal in southern Africa, according to the documentary. Considered the "gardeners of Africa," eidolons are important seed dispersers and pollinators of plants, and some have been observed to travel over 100 kilometres in a single night. Wikelski estimates that the eidolons in Zambia alone are responsible for planting approximately 80 million trees per night. "This is what keeps Africa green," he says in the film. Wikelski and his team are tracking the movements of these mammals from space to better understand their essential role in the ecosystem of Africa, and how they might protect the near-threatened species from hunting and habitat destruction. Tracking their migratory route and the antibodies they carry may also help scientists pinpoint geographic location of emerging diseases. "We can see where [the bats] went, and we can say, 'Well, all of the ebola antibodies are in bats that flew in the western part of Congo,' for example," says Wikelski. Zebras, giraffes and other wildlife help prevent rhino poaching Wikelski's tracking technology is also used in the ongoing war against poaching. According to The Secret Knowledge of Animals, 17,000 African elephants are illegally killed each year for their ivory. Meanwhile, about 1,000 rhinos are hunted for their horns. In South Africa's Kruger National Park, the entire community of large mammals is tracked around the clock to monitor how animals respond to the presence of humans. Rhinos are tagged and tracked so rangers can find them at any time, as well as zebras, giraffes, impalas and wildebeest, since their natural flight response can signal the presence of poachers. "Animals react differently to a lion or a poacher. The lion is local, [and] most of the time, it's not hunting. The poacher is coming in from somewhere, walking through an environment and is trying to find … a rhino," Wikelski says in the film. "We can, fairly easily, distinguish the reaction of animals towards a lion or towards a poacher." As more and more animals grow restless, it signals a human intruder and triggers an alarm for park rangers. Tracking helps protect whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence In Canada, scientists use tracking information to help protect the North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It's one of the most endangered large whale species, with fewer than 360 individuals remaining. Ocean warming is forcing them to spend more time in busy shipping and fishing zones, where they are increasingly coming into lethal contact with human activities. "There's three primary threats: ship strikes, entanglement in fishing gear and climate change," says Sarah Fortune, a marine biologist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, in the documentary. Intense monitoring of this species is now required by law in Canada. Whales are tracked using acoustic technology alongside aerial and at-sea surveillance, and a zone of protection moves with the animals. Human activity must adjust to the whales' movements, not the other way around. This is the idea behind dynamic management — and it's only possible by tracking the individual animals. Human activities are having a profound effect on our planet. Understanding the secret knowledge of animals may be critical not only to their survival, but our own as well. Watch the documentary on CBC Gem and the Nature of Things YouTube channel.
