New GPS Collars Can Protect Giraffes in Africa From Poachers

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Due to poachers and hunters who use giraffe’s skin to produce cloth, the giraffe population in Western Africa has unfortunately become extremely scarce. They are slowly making their way up the endangered species list, and scientists have had to act quickly.

In order to gather more information about these long-necked, majestic creatures of Africa, eight giraffes were fitted with GPS tracking collars. These GPS collars were specially designed to fit around the giraffe’s long neck, and are also camouflaged to match the color of the giraffe’s skin so that the giraffe doesn’t become easy prey.

Using the information gathered from the GPS devices, scientists can better understand where the giraffes are most commonly gathering, which helps them figure out in which areas giraffes need the most protection from hunters. The devices also serve as a precautionary measure: many giraffe hunters may be a bit less willing to fire a gun at any giraffe wearing a GPS collar because hunting giraffes is illegal in West Africa.

Getting the GPS collars onto the giraffes is probably the most difficult part of this entire process. Scientists must first fire a tranquilizer dart at the giraffe, and then an anesthesiologist must keep the giraffe unconscious until the GPS tracking collar can be been safely placed around its long neck. It takes a team of seven men to hold down this enormous animal so that it doesn’t make any sudden movements while it is incapacitated.

With this new technology, scientists also hope to find the mating grounds of the giraffes in Western Africa. With this information, scientists will hopefully be able to relocate more giraffes to these mating grounds, thus expanding the giraffe population in Western Africa, and consequently having them lowered them on the endangered species list.

There is also another serious threat that faces the giraffe population in Africa. With industrialization just starting to grow in Western Africa, more and more trees are being cut down, and even more watering holes are being taken over for human resources. The giraffes’ natural habitat is shrinking, which is causing many giraffes to die from lack of food and water. While environmentalist efforts are still trying to limit this harming of the ecosystem, scientists are using the information they gather from the satellite tracking collars to discover better locations for the giraffe population to inhabit.

With the help of this advanced new GPS based technology, the giraffe population will hopefully live on, and these gorgeous, majestic mammals of the dusty planes of Africa can continue to thrive in peace.

Tagged as: Africa, collar, endangered, extinct, giraffe, global positioning system, gps, GPS Tracking, hunters, neck, poachers, population, satellite, species, tracking, Western