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“We also didn’t know very much about which habitats elk preferred in this part of the park and how the presence of cattle might influence an elk’s decision to spend its time in one place over another.”
The researchers set out to answer these questions with two large datasets generated by the park GPS monitoring data from collared elk, and field-based transect surveys of the elk. What was missing, however, was information on the cows.
“We knew quite a bit about where the elk were, but we didn’t have any information about where the cows were, except that they were inside the fences,” she said. Knowing the precise number and location of cows relative to the elk herd would be necessary to understand how both species interact in a pastoral setting.
Spotting cows from space universityofcalifornia.edu - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from universityofcalifornia.edu Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Cows don’t seem to have a whole lot going on most of the time. They’re raised to spend their days grazing in the field, raised for the purpose of providing milk or meat, or producing more cows. So when students in UC Santa Barbara ecologist Doug McCauley’s lab found themselves staring intently at satellite image upon image of bovine herds at Point Reyes National Seashore, it was funny, in a “Far Side” kind of way.
“There were about 10 undergrads involved in the project, spotting cows from space not your typical student research and always amusing to see in the lab,” McCauley said. They became proficient at discerning the top view of a cow from the top view of rocks or the top view of other animals, he added.
Researchers use satellite imagery to track interactions between cows and elk at interface of wildland and rangeland miragenews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from miragenews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.