in East Texas.The $3,000
high-tech radio collars use “global positioning
satellite technology to record hourly positions of the animal from dusk
to dawn and once at midday,” according to the article.
Haemish Melville, a 37-year old wildlife research scientist from South Africa, is working on his doctorate’s
degree at Texas A&M University and is helping with the study.
“I think everyone acknowledges that predators have had an impact
on the turkey populations, but whether they are the main cause of the
problems the turkeys are having remains up for debate,” Melville said.
“What we are trying to find out is if the mesocarnivores are having a
substantial influence on the recruitment of wild turkeys, or if the
problems we are seeing are more of a combination of the other factors
in conjunction with predation.”