Counting on technology to count elephants
By Sid Perkins
From San Francisco, at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union
Researchers often serve lengthy stints in remote areas to count and monitor the movements of large animals such as elephants. In the future, however, scientists may use seismic instruments to do the job, a new study suggests.
In field tests in Namibia in 2002, Jason D. Wood, a geophysicist at Stanford University, and his colleagues buried a geophone—essentially, a sensitive microphone—near a path used by wildlife. The scientists observed passing animals and then analyzed the seismic waves generated by their footfalls.