Congratulations to the 2011 winners of our PTTs for Schools Program!
We are pleased to award a total of 15 transmitters to four research groups spanning several continents. The recipients have the choice of any of our current models. Thus, we have a wide range of taxa represented, including bats, birds and sharks.
Fiona Corner and Stuart Benn will be working with 4-12 year olds at the Maryburgh Primary School to track Red Kites with 22g Argos/GPS PTTs in the Scottish highlands. Their organization, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, has a long-standing record for successful conservation programs and has delivered outdoor learning experiences to over 20,000 school age children.
Using X-Tags, Edd and Annabelle Brooks will be working with 16 year old science students to track Caribbean reef sharks at The Island School in Eleuthera, The Bahamas. The Island School is a unique program that brings together students from schools in US, Canada and The Bahamas to face challenging situations in a non-traditional educational environment. Environmental education and science are major components in the students' curriculum at The Island School.
Billie Roberts from Griffith University and the students from Maclean High School will be using a specially modified version of our 9.5g PTT to track grey-headed flying foxes in eastern Australia. This threatened species has been subject to urban development of roost areas and has become a source of conflict within the community. Billie's organization, the Maclean Flying-Fox Working Group, hopes to foster co-existence between humans and flying foxes encouraging their conservation in this area.
Maximiliano Adrián Galmes and local students will be tracking a pair of Crowned Solitary Eagles and their fledgling in Central Argentina with 70g Argos/GPS PTTs. They also plan to distribute informational pamphlets and make educational videos about the Crowned Solitary Eagle since it is a poorly understood species with a false reputation for disturbing livestock.
Good luck to all our winners and we look forward to working with you in the coming year!