Don’t you believe me? Read on. 🙂
Kenya is the first country to try elephant texting as a way to protect both a growing human population and the wild animals that now have less room to roam. The Save the Elephants group in Kenya placed a mobile phone SIM card in the elephant’s collar and set up a virtual “geofence” using a global positioning system that mirrored the conservatory’s boundaries. Whenever the elephant approaches the virtual fence, his collar sends text messages to the rangers. [Photo: Associate Press]
The elephants can be tracked through Google Earth software, helping to map and conserve the corridors they use to move from one protected area to another. The tracking also helps prevent poaching, as rangers know where to deploy resources to guard valuable animals.
The biggest bonus so far has been the drop in crop raiding. They say that elephants, like teenagers, learn from each other, so tracking and controlling one habitual crop raider can make a whole group change its habits.
[via yahoo news]
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