Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS FEATURE

The internet of animals that could help to save vanishing wildlife

Martin Wikelski has spent 17 years getting an antenna into space to track animals around the world. That’s the first step in his plan to revolutionize biology.
  1. Andrew Curry

    1. Andrew Curry is a journalist in Berlin.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Martin Wikelski weighs a fruit bat in Kasanka before tagging it

Martin Wikelski studies a bat in Zambia as part of a tagging expedition. Credit: Christian Ziegler

On a Wednesday afternoon in August, biologist Martin Wikelski watched helplessly as 17 years of his professional life was about to go to waste — because of a cable mix-up.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 562, 322-326 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-07036-2

References

  1. Cochran, W. W., Mouritsen, H. & Wikelski, M. Science 304, 405–408 (2004).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. ICARUS. White Paper: Global Satellite Tracking of (Small) Animals Will Revolutionize Insight Into Migration, Human Health, and Conservation (ICARUS, 2008).

  3. Sherub, S., Bohrer, G., Wikelski, M. & Weinzierl, R. Biol. Lett. 12, 20160432 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Weinzierl, R. et al. Ecol. Evol. 6, 8706–8718 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links