Can you hear the ping?

All collars whether that be VHF, GPS, RVC, or SAT will have a unique associated frequency for that collar allowing us to find and track them using an antenna and receiver. While having collars on individual makes it possible to find packs this does not guarantee success. Only satellite collars can send out an exact location of the packs where abouts and even that is subject to change if packs are still moving when fixes are taken.

So what do you do if you don’t have an exact location?

Well to start, one must know the general area where a pack is frequent. Wild dogs are territorial animals with large home ranges and therefore are frequently found relatively close to where they were seen last. Unfortunately, while this is generally true there are exceptions where packs must leave areas due to interspecific competition (competition between different species, ie lions), intraspecific competition (competition between other packs), or a lack of sustainable food/water. For dispersing dog that rule is useless due to dispersing dogs being mobile and notoriously difficult if not impossible to track without a satellite collar.

If all that fails, then we drive along the road and scanning the area every 2km. The frequency range on every collar type is only 2km and this can also be interrupted by thick vegetation.

If you hear the ping?

Once our receivers pick up a signal for a collar then we first find the exact direction at which the signal is coming by homing in our receiver. Then this is where the fun begins. Most of the time dogs are normally found off the road but to get to them we most go off road (this is allowed only by an official research permit issued by the Botswana department of Wildlife). Once off road we most look out for axel killing stubs, tire tearers, wheel sinking holes, and a multitude of other obstacles. We follow the ping as it gets louder and louder like a game of hot and cold until we come across the dogs relaxing under a nice shady tree.

Conservation science is not a perfect science, its messy and demanding but rewarding when the efforts take a noticeable turn. We rely on our equipment to do our work and while the instruments and equipment have come a long way, there is still room for progress.