Field testing a global positioning system (GPS) collar on a Japanese monkey: reliability of automatic GPS positioning in a Japanese forest.
A global positioning system (GPS) collar recorded the locations of an adult female Japanese macaque over a 9-day period in a habitat with mixed suburban and rural land-uses in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The GPS device acquired positions even in forested areas. The GPS data located the female mostly in forested areas, although the female had ranged through a habitat with inter-mingled fields, orchards, quarries, and residential areas. However, the GPS position acquisition rate was low compared to studies carried out on North American mammals. The GPS fixed a position in 20% of positioning attempts. When the collared female was tracked by radio-telemetry, almost all failures of the GPS to fix a position occurred in forest.
Sprague
David S
DS
National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, 3-1-3 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8604, Japan. sprague@niaes.affrc.go.jp
Kabaya
Hajime
H
Hagihara
Ko
K
D000818:Animals; D005843:Geography; D007564:Japan; D008251:Macaca / Q000502:physiology*; D012107:Research Design; D017215:Satellite Communications / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013686:Telemetry / Q000379:methods*; D014197:Trees