Studying snakes could now be easy-peasy!

Imagine trekking through our Mamoní Valley Preserve and coming across a deadly and hard-to-find coral snake? Well, the picture in this article is only a few weeks old!

Monitoring and keeping track of snakes is a complicated task. Jeff Lemm, an herpetologist who has been studying red diamond rattlesnakes for years, is working to reinvent how snakes are monitored and studied.

He and his team have been collaborating with researchers at San Diego State University on a way to use tiny and noninvasive transmitters and accelerometers to study snakes without intrusions.?

The transmitters can be attached to the base of the snake’s rattle, while the specially designed accelerometers are attached near the animal’s neck, which avoids taking them to the veterinary, doing it right there in the field and getting the snake back out and moving in minutes.

The radio transmitters keep the team informed about each snake’s location so they can find it at a later stage, builds up a map that helps them better understand the animal’s home range, and they also measure the snake’s body temperature using an infrared thermometer.

The accelerometer, meanwhile, records the animal’s movements in 3D. The team uses this data to map movements and link it to behavioral patterns such as mating as well as foraging.

Snakes are globally distributed in all the world’s ecosystems, and are a type of animal that is an important predator around the globe.?

As researchers continue to gather more data and improvise the technology, they hope their tools and work in tracking and studying red diamond rattlesnakes can be picked up by others to be able to apply for all snake species, and serve as a case study for scientists around the world.

#Snake #Research #Technology #Biodiversity