In the premier edition of the RFID Network News:

• How RFID is used to track elephants at the Dallas Zoo
• A new RFID handheld reader from Hana Innosys
• A new desktop RFID reader from Thinkify
• And the largest passive RFID tag we’ve ever seen.

Dallas Zoo Uses RTLS for Elephant Tracking

The Dallas Zoo has received praise from zoo keepers around the world for their Giants of the Savanna exhibit.  This unique habitat allows elephants, giraffes, and other species to roam together freely. 

What’s also unique about the exhibit is the fact that the zoo is using RFID technology to track the movement of the elephants. The solution was designed and implemented by Cognitive Frequencies and uses the CSL Real Time Location System, or RTLS, that our team reviewed last fall. Although RFID technology is used for tracking farm animals like cows, elephant tracking is, well, a much bigger challenge.  The zoo wants to track the exact location of the elephants all the time and the terrain has a number of obstacles including a large watering hole and varying elevations.

Stumpy the elephant wears an RTLS tag as an ankle bracelet. The RTLS anchors, or readers, are placed in the research towers and positioned to track the elephants as they move around. Stumpy’s position is recorded every 30 seconds and the data is overlaid on a map of the habitat.  This information graphically shows researchers the places the elephants like to go, the other animals in the herd they spend the most time with, and how much exercise they’re getting.

The habitat and the use of RFID technology makes Giants of the Savanna a showcase for the Dallas Zoo, and a wonderful example for other zoos around the world.