Hi all,
This is a very general question and I am new to Motus technology. My research group is interested in using Motus to monitor elephant seal populations on beaches. I have two questions.
I would appreciate any insights!
Given that you have not received any responses here are some comments from the peanut gallery.
Motus tags/receivers primarily localize animal to the location of the receiver, i.e., you find out that an animal was within range of a receiver. This means that assuming favorable topology, you could set-up a receiver on each beach of interest such that their ranges don’t overlap. Then you can track when each animal is near a given beach. I don’t know whether this satisfies your research objectives.
One tricky aspect of marine mammals is that they spend a lot of time under water which blocks virtually all radio waves. This means that you either only get detections when an animal is out of the water (and it’s body doesn’t obstruct the radio waves), or you need a tag designed to detect when it emerges from the water so it immediately sends out pings. This may have pros and cons depending on whether you’re interested in finding out whether an animal is on a beach (dry) or near a beach (possibly swimming at the surface).
I would recommend that you contact CTT as they have experience with tracking sea animals using GPS tags specifically designed for this purpose. (I assume those tags are much more expensive than Motus tags, however.)
Finally, the tag waterproofing and attachment for marine animals is really very different from birds, e.g. weight doesn’t matter but getting the tags to stick is very different. Also, with Motus tags the antenna length may be a concern.
Where is your research area, BTW?
Just seeing this response. Thank you for the comments and recommendations! Super helpful. I am based in California, and would be using the technology to monitor seals and sea lions in rookeries along the coast.