Tracking Giants
New Technology Helps Protect Elephant Bulls
Saving the Survivors has recently supported the re-collaring of two elephant bulls — one subadult and one mature — using state-of-the-art Rouxcel tracking collars.
The intervention forms part of our ongoing commitment to combining veterinary expertise, field conservation and innovative technology to better understand and protect Africa’s wildlife.
The Rouxcel collars, sponsored by Saving the Survivors, represent a significant advancement in wildlife tracking. Designed for long-term use in the field, the collars use highly efficient power-management systems and an integrated solar panel, allowing them to recharge continuously while the elephants move through their natural habitat.
This technology enables the collars to transmit location data every 15 minutes while maintaining exceptional battery longevity, providing conservation teams with a detailed and reliable picture of each elephant’s movements over time.
More Than a Dot on a Map
Tracking an elephant is about far more than simply knowing where it is.
The information collected by these collars can help conservationists understand how elephants use the landscape, where they travel at different times of the year, which routes they use to move between habitats and where they may come into closer contact with people.
Over time, this detailed movement data can reveal important migration corridors, preferred habitats and areas where human-elephant conflict may be more likely to occur.
This knowledge can then be used to support informed conservation and management decisions, helping teams on the ground respond more effectively to changing conditions and potential threats.
A Carefully Managed Veterinary Intervention
Fitting or replacing a tracking collar requires a carefully coordinated veterinary intervention.
The elephants must be safely immobilised so that the team can work quickly and efficiently, while continually monitoring the animal throughout the procedure. Once the new collar is fitted and all necessary checks have been completed, the elephant is able to recover and return to the landscape carrying technology that will help protect and study it for years to come.
The photographs from this intervention offer a glimpse behind the scenes at the work involved in safely fitting these collars and ensuring that these magnificent animals can continue to be monitored.
Technology Supporting Conservation
Advances in wildlife-tracking technology are becoming an increasingly important part of modern conservation.
When combined with experienced field teams, veterinary care and long-term monitoring, tools such as these collars can provide information that would otherwise be extremely difficult to obtain.
For Saving the Survivors, this is an important part of our wider approach to conservation. Our involvement does not end when an animal gets back on its feet and walks away from an intervention.
By supporting monitoring, research and long-term protection, we can help build a deeper understanding of the animals we work to protect and the challenges they face.
These two elephants can now continue their journeys while providing invaluable information that will help conservation teams better understand their movements and protect them into the future.
Protect. Monitor. Understand. Conserve.
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