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GPS-based 'Smart Collars' track deer travels near Highway 280 [San Jose Mercury News, Calif.](San Jose Mercury News (CA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Dec. 04--Just like humans, deer are commuters. A new project is using global positioning technology to track their routes and find where our paths intersect -- hoping to prevent deadly collisions. This weekend, wildlife biologists with the California Department of Fish and Game and UC Davis are roaming the hills that flank Interstate 280 near Crystal Springs Reservoir -- a bloody 13-mile strip of highway from Woodside to San Mateo. As cars whizzed past Saturday afternoon, a 6-year-old doe was shot in the rump with a sedative-filled syringe, then slowed and collapsed into a deep slumber. Quickly, the biologists blindfolded and hobbled her, then extracted a tooth and took samples of skin, blood and fur from her glossy coat. The samples will be analyzed in a lab, offering a snapshot of her health. Then the scientists slipped a leather collar on the animal, carrying a plastic-encased GPS device and a battery. A veterinarian injected a big dose of vitamins, minerals and antibiotics, while monitoring a "pulse dosimeter" that tracked oxygen levels in the blood. Soon the doe awakened in the warm winter sun. She steadied herself on long wobbly legs. Then, in an instant, she vanished. "Fantastic," said Cristen Langner, an environmental scientist with Fish and Game. By dusk, three additional deer -- ages 4, 5 and 9, all healthy females -- had been captured and collared. On Sunday, the two teams will find more. A total of 15 deer are needed for this phase of the research project, lead by the UC Davis' Road Ecology Center. An estimated 100 deer die every year on I-280. The impact -- metal on flesh at 70 miles per hour -- is nightmarish. Those that survive the initial impact may wander off, alone, eventually succumbing to their injuries. Humans die, too. In September, Santa Clara University associate professor Daniel Strickland, only 27 with a fresh doctorate from Stanford's School of Engineering, hit a deer on I-280 near Alpine Road. As his Volkswagen sat motionless in the freeway's No. 2 lane, he was stuck and killed by another driver. Scientists suspect that the deer -- non-migrating California Mule Deer, which cluster in small family groups headed by dominant does -- spend their nights down by the reservoir, quenching their thirst. At dawn, the hungry deer may seek a salad bowl in I-280's eastern hills, a suburban landscape of lawns and gardens. Back and forth they travel, across a steady stream of traffic. "We don't know a whole lot. This is the purpose of this," Langner said. "Are they moving across the highway? Or just staying in these people's backyards and not causing trouble? That's what we hope to learn." Based on the findings, Caltrans may decide to add new underpasses, or change existing ones. Perhaps it would erect fencing. Each collar emits different frequencies, identifying the animal, said David Casady, another environmental scientist with Fish and Game. Only does are collared. Bucks, whose necks swell and shrink during rutting, don't wear them well. Like a digital diary, the GPS identifies the deer's location and uploads it to a satellite. The data is then downloaded to computers at UC Davis, where biologists can chart their movements by the hour. This serves as a platform for predicting the behavior of wildlife, a dream since our ancient ancestors first hunted on the African plains. "Smart collars," perfected over the past five years, are already measuring how other species of animals live their lives -- solving many mysteries of the wild. In the Santa Cruz Mountains, GPS also is being used by UC Santa Cruz biologists to track 25 mountain lions. They found that one animal often crossed Bonny Doon Road; another prowled near Lexington Reservoir. A third often skirted the edge of San Jose's Almaden Golf Course. Farther afield, GPS revealed that a wolf collared near Yellowstone in 2009 wandered hundreds of miles through Wyoming and Utah, then entered Colorado and traversed across the state. A lynx from Colorado's San Juan Mountains ended up in Des Moines. A mountain lion cub collared in a Denver suburb was tracked as it moved east across Kansas and Oklahoma prairie. Last summer, signals showed it had entered eastern New Mexico. A young male wolverine collared in Wyoming trekked several hundred miles to Rocky Mountain National Park, ending up in the eastern Colorado mountains near Leadville. Biologists say such tracking offers a way of thinking about wild landscapes -- and can save lives. Said Langner: "We are trying to help the deer and help the people at the same time." The Denver Post contributed to this report. Contact Lisa M. Krieger at 408-920-5565. --Gun: A modified rifle called a Marlin, with a range averaging 90 feet. --Projectile: Pneu-Dart, nicknamed a "flying syringe." --Drug: A combination of the anesthetic Telazol and sedative Xylazine, commonly used on dogs and cats. --Fur samples: Seeking evidence of a new species of exotic lice. --Blood: Seeking exposure to diseases like the bacteria-born Brucellosis, as well as levels of toxic metals. --Tooth sample: Accurate aging. --Skin biopsy: DNA will establish genetic relationships of nearby herds. ___ (c)2011 the San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.) Visit the San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.) at www.mercurynews.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |