January 25, 2007 by Marco Zennaro | No comments
Tiny RFID Tags Used to Track Wasps’ Behavior
Computing’s Dave Friedlos reports today that the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has attached tiny RFID tags to wasps in order to track their movements using sensors placed at the entrance to each nest.
What did they learn? “Rather than just tending home colonies, worker wasps also entered other nests to help raise the young,” Friedlos writes.
The ZSL team says it was inspired by London Transport’s Oyster Card system, and believes the same concept could be used to monitor other species as well. “The scientists tagged every female worker wasp, fitting a total of 422 tags, with readers placed at each of the 33 nests,” Friedlos writes.
You can read more about this project on the TUV website, on BBC News and on the ZSL press release.
