An expanding break-away radio-collar for small mammals

Abstract

A radio-transmitter collar of surgical rubber tubing was designed for use on growing juvenile mammals which require an expanding collar that eventually is shed. In trials on three marsupial species, including social possums, collars were not chewed by conspecifics. Radio-collars placed on wild juvenile Phascogale tapoatafa expanded with the animal's growth and broke as a result of abrasion, typically after 7 weeks or more.