The pitfall with PIT tags: marking freshwater bivalves for translocation induces short-term behavioural costs
Tagging animals is frequently employed in ecological studies to monitor individual behaviour, for example postrelease survival and dispersal of captive-bred animals used in conservation programmes. While the majority of studies focus on the efficacy of tags in facilitating the relocation and identification of individuals, few assess the direct effects of tagging in biasing animal behaviour. […]
Assessment of flipper tag site healing in gray seal pups using thermography
Infrared thermography was used to monitor the healing process at flipper tag sites in gray seal (Halichoerus grypus) pups. We tested the hypothesis that tagging would result in a rise in surface temperature associated with tag site healing processes compared with adjacent untagged areas of the flipper. Prior to tagging thermal images were recorded of […]
Assessing Acute Effects of Trapping, Handling, and Tagging on the Behavior of Wildlife Using GPS Telemetry: A Case Study of the Common Brushtail Possum
Trapping, handling, and deployment of tracking devices (tagging) are essential aspects of many research and conservation studies of wildlife. However, often these activities place nonhuman animals under considerable physical or psychological distress, which disrupts normal patterns of behavior and may ultimately result in deleterious effects on animal welfare and the validity of research results. Thus, […]