The use of extremely sensitive monitoring equipment is an important aspect of the experimental reintroduction of elk into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The 25 elk released into a holding pen in Cataloochee Valley were outfitted March 20 with telemetry collars. The pregnant cows, eight of them, have also been fitted with temperative-senstive vaginal implants that will alert researchers to the birth of calfs.

While many in Haywood County used heavy snowfall that day as an excuse to stay home, Jennifer Murrow and a crew of University of Tennessee graduate students, veterinary students, park staff and others were busy corralling the elk and putting the collars on.

Murrow, a Ph.D. candidate at UT, is the chief field researcher for the five-year experimental elk release in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. She said that six of the collars will include Global Positioning System (GPS) hardware as well as regular VHF transmitters. The collars also incorporate mortality switches and activity switches.

The mortality switches are programed to activate if the collars remain motionless for a pre-determined length of time. Murrow said the collars are set to activate if the collar is still for two hours. She hopes that this will allow her to get to any elk that may have died in time for a necropsy to be performed.

Time can be of the essence when trying to get to downed elk. When researchers found the remains of two elk that had been released in Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area in Tennessee last December, scavengers had picked the carcasses clean and no cause of death could be determined.

The activity switches will help Murrow determine the elks’ movement and feeding patterns. The switches are so sensitive that one can determine the position of the elk’s head, Murrow said.

The gates to the holding pen will be opened in early April. The elk will not be forced out of the pen, but allowed to leave on their own. Murrow hopes to create a kind of a corridor that will lead the elk into some of the more open areas of the valley.

Dr. Joe Clark of UT, who is supervising the experimental release, said collaring the elk now will give researchers time to test all the transmitters and make any repairs or needed adjustments. He noted that the GPS transmitters would have to be computer programed.

Murrow said she would begin monitoring the elk as soon as they leave the pen. She said Morristown Flying Service of Morristown, Tenn., had been contracted to assist in the tracking program. Fly-overs will be performed twice weekly.

Aerial surveys greatly increase transmitter range. Murrow expects to be able to pick up signals up to 15 miles from the plane. Terrain comes into play when tracking from the ground. Murrow said the transmitters are usually good for up to eight miles if one gets a clear shot, but mountains and rough terrain can cut that to one mile.

The 25 collared elk include 13 bulls and 12 cows. Eight of the 11 cows of calf-bearing age are pregnant. These eight have been fitted with vaginal implants. According to Murrow, when these cows give birth the vaginal implants will be forced out and fall on the ground. The implants are temperature sensitive and will begin to transmit signals as soon as the ambient temperature drops below 96 degrees Fahrenheit. Murrow hopes these implants will allow her to find the new born calves so they can be tagged and/or fitted with collars. The cows should give birth around the end of May or first of June.

Murrow said roads leading to the holding pen will be closed and monitored. She said it is critical that the elk be given as much privacy as possible while they acclimate to their new surroundings.

 

Back to Top
The Smoky Mountain News