We all know that turtles don’t need an internet connection to keep them alive, however, they need to be tracked carefully so that they don’t enter the dreaded list already flooding with the names of endangered species.
Researchers from the University of Massachusetts have developed an eco-friendly way to track snapping turtles. Common means to track them makes use of a battery powered GPS device, since the battery dies out soon so does the signal. These researchers opted for sustainable means. They have now developed a small solar powered computer called Turtlenet that is outfitted with a GPS beacon and a Wi-Fi connection. When two snapping turtles that are carrying these computers on their hard shells come close to each other their computers swap information. The final idea is to hope that one of these turtles comes close to the base station and transfers the information on the project’s servers.
Snapping turtles are not on the list of endangered species for now, and such systems will provide enough information so that they never make it to that critical list.
Via: Inhabitat
