Living Coast Burrowing Owl Assists in Research
Our Burrowing Owl, Blue, assisted in a research project recently. Researchers with San Diego Zoo Global plan to observe Burrowing Owls in the wild using satellite transponders but don’t know how Burrowing Owls would react to wearing the device. Enter Blue, who wore the GPS device for four days — and even continued his duties as an Animal Ambassador at the Living Coast.
Researchers placed the “Burrowing Owl Backpack” on Blue and tested the transmission and reception of data including GPS coordinates. The equipment worked well, and Blue didn’t mind wearing the device. The next step for the research is to get the Burrowing Owl Backpacks onto wild owls.
