Much of the audio in this library comes from ‘audiologgers’—-audiologgers are small devices that continuously record animal activity and sounds. They were developed by our collaborators at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France, and we work with Dr. Simon Chamaillé-Jammes to acquire and manage this cutting edge tool. While GPS collars provide location data every few hours and give us a large-scale and long-term understanding of their movements, audiologgers give all kinds of detailed information important to understanding how they are doing. This includes: learning about their reproduction (calving, nursing, social interactions), energy budgets (resting, rumination, walking/running), and potentially causes of death. Audiologgers also provide detail into how caribou respond to disturbance. They capture information on the presence of mosquitoes or oestrid flies, the sounds of traffic and mining activity, the presence of predators. Because they detect fine-scale movement, we can also investigate how specifically they respond to disturbances.  Under intensive insect harassment, do they run away? Aggregate? Seek ridges? Seek water?  Do their calves keep up? Do they stop eating to increase vigilance at the sound of mine blast?  Do they wait for traffic to recede to cross a winter road? Do industrial noises cause caribou to move away, in search of less disturbed areas? 

We attach them to caribou for short periods of time (6 months at most). They are designed to drop off GPS collars at a set date and we retrieve them from the field.