First use of a microchip-automated nest box in situ by a brush-tailed phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa)
Shania J. Watson A B , Julia M. Hoy
B D , Megan C. Edwards A B and Peter J. Murray A C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland, Gatton Campus, Gatton, Qld 4343, Australia.
B Hidden Vale Wildlife Centre, The University of Queensland, Grandchester, Qld 4340, Australia.
C University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba Campus, Qld 4350, Australia.
D Corresponding author. Email: j.hoy@uq.edu.au
Australian Mammalogy 44(1) 139-142 https://doi.org/10.1071/AM20046
Submitted: 7 April 2020 Accepted: 13 December 2020 Published: 13 January 2021
Abstract
Microchip-automated devices have the potential to provide individual free-living animals with safe nesting areas and act as a method of targeted food delivery, while excluding competitors and predators. Wildlife have been successfully trained to use such devices in captivity but never in the wild. Bringing animals into captivity may not always be feasible or appropriate due to the high cost, likely increased stress on the animals, and potential biosecurity risk. Therefore to demonstrate proof of concept that wildlife could be trained in situ to use commercially available microchip-automated devices, a brush-tailed phascogale in the wild was exposed to a microchip-automated door attached to a nest box. The phascogale was successfully trained within 15 days to use the microchip-automated door.
Keywords: automation, behaviour, microchip, RFID, wildlife management.
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