arnould-animallifestyleaffects-2021.pdf (953.57 kB)
Animal lifestyle affects acceptable mass limits for attached tags
journal contribution
posted on 2021-10-27, 00:00 authored by Rory P. Wilson, Kayleigh A. Rose, Richard Gunner, M D Holton, N J Marks, Nigel BennettNigel Bennett, S H Bell, Joshua P. Twining, J Hesketh, C M Duarte, N Bezodis, M Jezek, M Painter, V Silovsky, M C Crofoot, R Harel, John ArnouldJohn Arnould, Blake Allan, Desley WhissonDesley Whisson, A Alagaili, D. Michael ScantleburyAnimal-attached devices have transformed our understanding of vertebrate ecology. To minimize any associated harm, researchers have long advocated that tag masses should not exceed 3% of carrier body mass. However, this ignores tag forces resulting from animal movement. Using data from collar-attached accelerometers on 10 diverse free-ranging terrestrial species from koalas to cheetahs, we detail a tag-based acceleration method to clarify acceptable tag mass limits. We quantify animal athleticism in terms of fractions of animal movement time devoted to different collar-recorded accelerations and convert those accelerations to forces (acceleration × tag mass) to allow derivation of any defined force limits for specified fractions of any animal's active time. Specifying that tags should exert forces that are less than 3% of the gravitational force exerted on the animal's body for 95% of the time led to corrected tag masses that should constitute between 1.6% and 2.98% of carrier mass, depending on athleticism. Strikingly, in four carnivore species encompassing two orders of magnitude in mass (ca 2-200 kg), forces exerted by '3%' tags were equivalent to 4-19% of carrier body mass during moving, with a maximum of 54% in a hunting cheetah. This fundamentally changes how acceptable tag mass limits should be determined by ethics bodies, irrespective of the force and time limits specified.
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Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological SciencesVolume
288Issue
1961Publisher DOI
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0962-8452eISSN
1471-2954Publication classification
C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalUsage metrics
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