Lightweight enough to be attached to an animal, the transmitters provide a wealth of migration data; high-resolution data on animal location and activity over time, offering detailed insights into the species’ interactions with their environment. This technology has proved invaluable, increasing human knowledge about bird migration routes, a topic investigated by many scientific institutions. GPS transmitters are routinely used by scientific organisations in tracking the migratory patterns of many species worldwide, providing a completely harmless, cruelty free insight into the fascinating activities of our furred and feathered friends, also those with scales!
Earlier this year, our Eurofins MITOX team in Poland, in a harmless process, fitted woodpigeons (Columba palumbus) with GPS/GSM transmitters. Around the end of September 2024, the pigeons set off on their annual migration. After around 1,700km, three of them ‘visited’ our colleagues at Eurofins MITOX FOPSE facility in Southern France before continuing their migration journey.
If you take a look at the images below, you can see the flight path of the pigeons in the first map. The second map shows how close the pigeons came to the MITOX facility.
The pigeons are still carrying their transmitters so keep checking back for more of their adventures!