Elk research has gone high tech in Wyoming.
The Wyoming Game & Fish Department (WG&F) is successfully utilizing vaginal implant transmitters (VITs) to track elk birth locations. The technology also assists researchers in tracking and monitoring elk population and movement.
Check out this video provided by the WG&F that explains and illustrates the entire process. It is truly amazing technology that helps the WG&F manage the many elk herds in Wyoming, and provides useful info to hunters as well.
This is truly future-tech-meets-good-old-fashioned-fieldwork. VITs are implanted in cow elk at the same time tracking collars are installed. From that point, WG&F closely tracks the movements of the elk. When the movement stops and the VIT signal becomes stronger, it tells researchers that a calf was probably born.
At that point, researchers and biologists follow the VIT signal to locate the exact birth spot.
The research project should give a better understanding of elk calf survival rates, helping the overall wildlife management plan for the state in its entirety.
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