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African wild dogs are among Africa’s most fascinating predators. They are also one of the most challenging species to monitor and protect.
Territorial predators stick to defined ranges. Wild dogs don’t. Packs cover vast distances in short periods, and their movements track prey availability, competition, denning behavior and how suitable habitats are connected. They also cross protected-area boundaries into neighboring farms and communities. That raises the risk of livestock losses for farmers and retaliatory killings of the dogs, a serious operational challenge for teams working to protect this endangered species.
Protecting a species that rarely stays in one place means constant tracking.
Building landscape-wide connectivity
Conservationists are turning to Internet of Things (IoT) technology to track priority species and act faster in the field. It starts with GPS-enabled collars fitted to the animals, which record an animal's location and movement and send that data over a low-power, long-range network called LoRaWAN.
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Think of LoRaWAN like your home Wi-Fi, scaled way up. Home Wi-Fi covers square meters; LoRaWAN covers square kilometres, and a single well-positioned gateway can connect an area of up to 700 km², depending on terrain, vegetation and how high it's mounted.
Conservation technologists mount these gateways at elevated points across the protected area, from hills and towers to anything else with height, to pick up radio-frequency signals from collars and other compatible sensors within range. That signal's reach depends on terrain and vegetation: mountains and dense bush cut a gateway's range, while a clear line of sight lets it cover far more ground. Because that range varies so much, teams overlap several gateways across the landscape, improving reliability and the odds of catching every transmission.
When a collared wild dog moves through this network, one or more gateways pick up its location and relay it to a central cloud platform. Depending on the collar's reporting schedule, network coverage and field conditions, teams can see updated locations in near real time.
This information can help teams:
- Monitor pack movements and general wellbeing
- Understand habitat use
- Identify dispersal behaviour
- Detect movement towards higher-risk areas
- Coordinate responses across reserves and monitoring teams
Movement alerts matter most when a pack looks set to leave a protected area for neighbouring farms or communities. Early warning gives teams more time to assess the risk and respond before conflict starts. That might mean sending ground teams to monitor the pack or guide it toward safer ground. In more serious cases, and with the right approvals, vets and helicopter crews step in to immobilise and relocate the animals.
Connecting GPS collars to a landscape-wide LoRaWAN network turns individual location readings into information teams can use in the field. That cuts the risk of livestock predation and retaliatory killings, and supports safer, long-term coexistence between people and wildlife. The same data also shapes longer-range conservation planning: over time, it helps teams map frequently used routes, key habitats and the spots where animals are most likely to run into people, livestock or infrastructure.
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More than dots on a map
Wildlife tracking technology does more than show you a dot on a map. It helps conservation teams understand what's happening, weigh the risk and decide how to respond. Collecting location data is the easy part. Turning large volumes of information into intelligence that supports decisions in the field is the real challenge.
Modern conservation systems, such as the EarthRanger platform Wildlife ACT uses, can bring together several sources of information within a shared operational environment, including:
- Animal movement data
- Environmental conditions
- Infrastructure status
- Ranger patrol information
- Geospatial mapping layers
- Camera-trap observations
- Incident reports
Bring these together and teams get a fuller picture of what's happening across the landscape. They can spot movement patterns, assess emerging risks and coordinate people and resources more effectively.
The realities of operating in remote environments
Wildlife tracking systems help, but they're not foolproof. Performance depends on collar condition, battery life, network coverage, power availability and access to reliable communications infrastructure. Difficult terrain and remote locations can still slow how quickly information reaches a monitoring team.
These systems, and the data they produce, need regular maintenance, technical support and careful interpretation from experienced conservation staff. Building and maintaining this kind of infrastructure isn't a once-off job. Equipment has to hold up in the field, networks have to reach areas rarely visited, and conservation teams need training to use both the technology and the information it produces.
Supporting people on the ground
Technology doesn't replace people. Wildlife conservation depends, and will keep depending, on dedicated people working on the ground, often in tough conditions across vast landscapes. Technology helps these teams by giving them better tools, faster access to reliable information and a clearer picture of what's happening across the areas they protect.
This support matters more as conservation organizations face growing operational demands and shrinking budgets. Data-driven decisions help close that gap: teams can prioritize their efforts, deploy people and equipment where they're needed most, and get more from the resources they already have. In practice, that means conservation teams doing more with less, without losing the value of local knowledge, field experience and human judgement.
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Reliable information also strengthens coordination between neighboring reserves and conservation organizations. When wildlife crosses administrative boundaries, shared data helps teams build a common picture of the situation and coordinate a faster, more effective response. That matters for highly mobile species like African wild dogs, whose movements ignore the boundaries drawn on maps. When conservationists have timely information in hand, they can make better-informed decisions and act where it counts most.
Investing in practical conservation solutions
Strong support from Science Based Ingredients (SBI) is helping Wildlife ACT's teams roll out and maintain technology that strengthens monitoring and improves visibility across the landscape. SBI backs a more sustainable world, and its investment here is helping protect vulnerable species like African wild dogs. It's also helping promote safer coexistence between wildlife and the neighbouring communities whose livelihoods depend on these landscapes.
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This support helps turn technology from a promising idea into a practical conservation tool, one that conservationists can deploy, maintain and use to take on real-world challenges and, let's face it, a fight for a species' survival. As conservation pressures grow more complex, landscape-wide connectivity and timely access to reliable information will play a key role in protecting endangered species.
Conservation now stretches well past the boundaries of individual reserves. It calls for smarter, more responsive operations built around the ties between wildlife, people, technology and shared landscapes.
References
EarthRanger Support (n.d.) What Is EarthRanger and How Does It Work? Available at: https://support.earthranger.com/en_US/what-is-earthranger-and-how-does-it-work (Accessed: 28 September 2026).
Pretorius, M.E., Seoraj-Pillai, N. and Pillay, N. (2019) ‘Landscape correlates of space use in the critically endangered African wild dog Lycaon pictus’, PLOS ONE, 14(3), e0212621. Available at: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0212621 (Accessed: 28 September 2026).
Science Based Ingredients (n.d.) Science Based Ingredients. Available at: https://sciencebasedingredients.com/ (Accessed: 28 September 2026).
Semtech (n.d.) Smart Parks Protects Endangered Species with LoRaWAN®. Available at: https://blog.semtech.com/smart-parks-protects-endangered-species-with-lorawan (Accessed: 28 September 2026).
Wildlife ACT (n.d.) African Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus). Available at: https://www.wildlifeact.com/about-wildlife-act/wildlife-species/african-wild-dog-lycaon-pictus (Accessed: 28 September 2026).
Wildlife ACT (n.d.) Endangered Wildlife Tracking and Monitoring. Available at: https://www.wildlifeact.com/about-wildlife-act/endangered-wildlife-tracking-monitoring (Accessed: 28 September 2026).
