Wild Animals Can Now Collar Themselves for Tracking
Self-deploying GPS collars let researchers track wildlife without the stress of physical capture.
Updated on Nov. 5, 2026 in Wildlife
Researchers have developed an autonomous GPS collar system that lets wild animals fit tracking collars on themselves. The approach, described in a proof-of-concept study published in BioScience, was developed at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and demonstrated with red deer and red foxes.
Why it matters
Traditional wildlife tracking requires physically capturing animals, a process that can cause severe stress and injury and often limits studies to a handful of animals at a time. Capture-free telemetry offers a way to track wildlife with less disruption to animal behaviour and health, which matters for anyone following how wild species move through landscapes shared with people.
The system was demonstrated with red deer and red foxes, with field trials conducted at the Norwegian Deer Centre. The collars adjust automatically to each animal's neck size and are designed to drop off after a few weeks or a couple of months.
The players
Norwegian University of Life Sciences
A Norwegian public university where the autonomous collar system was developed.
Norwegian Deer Centre
A Norwegian facility that hosted the field trials of the self-deploying collars with deer.
BioScience
A peer-reviewed journal that published the proof-of-concept study on capture-free wildlife telemetry.
The details
Species-specific autonomous deployment units are set up in an animal's habitat and baited, so wild animals collar themselves as they interact with the device. Each collar includes built-in weak spots that allow it to separate if the animal experiences discomfort or entanglement. The collars automatically size to the animal's neck and are designed to fall off on their own after a few weeks or a couple of months, reducing the need to recapture animals to remove them.
Timeline
The capture-free telemetry study was published on November 5, 2026, in BioScience.
The Home Front
Wildlife tracking has long depended on capturing animals, which the researchers describe as invasive, difficult, and expensive. Self-deploying collars represent a shift toward tracking that leaves animals' behaviour and fitness less altered.
If you live near wildlife corridors or farmland, the work is a reminder that many animals move through areas people share with them. Keep pet food and garbage secured outdoors, and if you encounter an injured or collared wild animal, contact your local wildlife agency rather than handling it yourself.
The takeaway
Self-deploying tracking collars show how wildlife research can move away from invasive capture toward methods that study more animals with less disruption. Keeping outdoor food sources secured is a simple habit that helps wildlife and households coexist.
Further reading
For more on how animals are studied in the wild, explore our Wildlife coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Dpaonthenet.
