Today I learned that bats are forerunners of tracking technology

Bats are elusive little creatures, making them perfect subjects for scientists to try out new animal tracking systems. This is great news for me in particular, as I love both bats and see pictures of animals with wacky little trackers on them. How can you watch these seals with silly antenna hats and not laugh at least a little?

One of the latest innovations in wearable device tracking is the dulog system, a network of wireless sensors built by biologist Simon Ripperger and engineer Niklas Duda, which has been put to the test in several tracking studies. bats in recent years. Now that the dulog has a proven track record with bats, which are tiny, nocturnal, and generally difficult to observe, the couple believe it could be useful for monitoring all kinds of animals.

“If your project can be successful with bats, it can probably work with most species,” Ripperger says in a recent Silicon Labs blog post. When he got into the bat tracking business, he saw that his advisor “was basically running after the bats, chasing them with an antenna.” I’ll keep this image in my mind for a while, but Ripperger and Duda think the dulog’s tiny sensors will make animal studies easier – less chasing needed.

Image: dulog

Data collected with Dulog beacons can be downloaded remotely, meaning that after the initial attachment, scientists don’t have to wrestle with animals to retrieve data from their beacons. They’re also smaller and lighter than current GPS tracking systems that allow remote downloads – the bat pictured above would fit in the palm of your hand, and the sensor weighs less than a gram. What’s most exciting for Ripperger is that the tags “talk to each other,” meaning they can be used to track the social behavior of tagged animals based on their proximity to each other over time. time.

So far, the dulog system has been used in studies that have produced interesting findings: mother bats guide their puppies from roost to roost, once captive bats maintain their social relationships when released in the wild, and bats exhibit “social distancing” behavior when sick. Following these bat-based successes, Ripperger and Duda soon hope to start selling the system to researchers for use with other animals, large and small.

In terms of possible applications for the system, “the sky is the limit,” says Ripperger. I am not involved in any significant animal research, but personally I would like to hang a tag on my dog ​​to keep an eye out for his general mischief. I imagine they would also be helpful in knowing which squirrels are the biggest offenders by eating my bird seeds. At the moment they are not available to order direct, so I will leave the science to the scientists and continue to enjoy the photos of animals with backpacks and hats.