A little article on PIT tags was published in June's STRI newsletter. My boss and I use this technology
to recognize marked bats using a hand-transponder reader and also to recognize bats when they crawl through the automated balances that I have installed in Gamboa. "How does one track the comings and goings of bats, birds, frogs and other animals? A rice-grain sized PIT tag injected under the skin makes it possible to identify individuals using a hand-held tag reader. Passive Integrated Transponder tags consist of a small glass capsule containing electromagnetic coils that act as a combined receiver/transmitter. When triggered by an interrogating signal, the antenna in the tag uses voltage generated by the signal to radiate an alternating magnetic field coded with a unique ID number. This technology was first developed in the 1940’s to distinguish friendly from enemy aircraft. The same concept lets you open a door by waving a card in front of a reader. Since the 1980’s PIT tags have been employed to monitor fish populations and to identify valuable zoo animals and pets. Radio Frequency Identification Technology in printed tags tracks goods in the global supply chain. Seven millimeter-long PIT tags cost a little less than $5.00 each."
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Monday of last week, I had the chance to give
a presentation on bats to children from the infant school of Gamboa. My presentation - "The Secret Life of Bats" - was composed of three parts: - Where do bats live? - What do bats eat? - Why bats are our friends? Before presenting some slides for each part, I asked the children to test their knowledge. A child answered "Frog!" to the question about the diet. He had probably heard of the work realised in the laboratory of Rachel Page - my host laboratory in Gamboa - which studies the only species known around the world to eat frogs: Trachops cirrhosus. I ended my presentation by talking about the flight and echolocation in bats with a plush as support. A first time for me with such a young, to repeat undoubtedly! Yann |
AuthorLittle blog about my bat research and conservation action |