http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/18/lion-trackers-get-sight-beyond-sight-with-laser-plane/ A science salon hosted by National Geographic Magazine Tue, 18 Jun 2013 22:57:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.2-alpha http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/18/lion-trackers-get-sight-beyond-sight-with-laser-plane/#comment-43911 Ana Fri, 22 Mar 2013 20:20:06 +0000 http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/?p=153544#comment-43911 I reckon humans are as welcome in the lions world as they would be in our cities. Keeping our distance is a form of respect which we ought to begin showing to this majestic creatures. Technology is a great step towards further exploration of nature without affecting it with our human dirty boots.

]]> http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/18/lion-trackers-get-sight-beyond-sight-with-laser-plane/#comment-43887 Edith Mertz Fri, 22 Mar 2013 15:48:08 +0000 http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/?p=153544#comment-43887 I was rather tickled to read this article as I was a volunteer working for Craig back in 2006. I remember how odd it felt sitting in the tent staring at a computer screen in the middle of the night, watching the latest gps localities for the lions coming in. And yet it was very cool seeing the little dots representing each collared lion moving around on the screen in real time. The thing about new technologies in field research is that increasingly it allows us to see exactly what animals are seeing at the same time that they are seeing it. In a certain sense it opens the doors to a specie’s intimate world of experiences. The other big advantage of being there without really being there looking over the shoulder of an animal is that the physical presence of humans isn’t interfering in any way with the natural behaviour of the animal. (Provided that the application of the monitoring technique didn’t unduly spook the animals during the attachment of say a radio collar for example. Or that the equipment is somehow a hindrance to the animal by being bulky or breaking its natural camouflage etc.) The problem perhaps with these advances in technology is that increasingly scientist find themselves monitoring their subjects from the office and are removed from directly experiencing nature. I view this as a serious concern even in my own research on cetaceans. There simply is no substitute for being in the thick of things! Walking next to the fresh spoor on the riverbank of the lion that just passed by, seeing the things it just saw, smelling the same scent of sun-bleached grasses on the breeze. Our “modern” human lifestyles has pushed so many of us to the brink of an artificial existence. It is truly a sad day when the biologists of this world no longer have the privilege to directly experience the natural world we love so dearly.

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