An Acoustically Sensitive Transmitter for Telemetering the Activities of Wild Animals

The effects of tooth wear on the activity patterns of free-ranging koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus Goldfuss)

“…One sub-adult and five adult male koalas of varying degrees of tooth wear were captured from a wild population on Raymond Island. Each koala was weighed (to ±100 g), assessed for degree of tooth wear, and fitted with a transmitter collar containing an acoustically sensitive audio transmitter (Greager et al 1979;Lentle et al 1998a;Logan and Sanson 2002a), before being released back into the tree from which it had been captured. The weights of adult individuals listed from low to high tooth wear were 10.0, 11.3, 10.4, 10.4 and 10.4 kg, and all were of good body condition.…”

The effect of tooth wear on the feeding behaviour of free‐ranging koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus, Goldfuss)

“…Hence, tooth wear represented a continuous scale potentially ranging from 0 (unworn) to 7 (completely worn or absent). Upon capture, each animal was weighed ( 100 g), assessed for the degree of tooth wear and ®tted with a collar containing an acoustically sensitive audio transmitter (Greager, Jenness & Ward, 1979;Lentle, Potter et al, 1998). Microphone transmissions were initially monitored using a Uniden Bearcat (66±512 MHz, 1k) scanner and hand-held Yagi antenna.…”

Developing Acoustic Telemetry Systems for Terrestrial Mammals: A Brief History

“…An acoustic approach suggested itself when I finally grasped the fact that our captive porcupines were generating audible feeding sounds, threat huffs and quill shakes. A few years earlier, in fact', a New Zealand team had described a selfdesigned acoustic transmitter for relatively closerange field studies of brushtailed opossums 11 . Pursuing this possibility, we managed to assemble a workable acoustic telemetry system comprised of inexpensive, off the shelf components.…”