Kentucky university students use GPS to track box turtles

Some students at one Kentucky university are using GPS devices to track box turtles and learn about the technology’s value.

Murray State University assistant wildlife biology professor Andrea Darracq says students work in the classroom to build the tracking devices and go into the field at an off-campus university property to locate the turtles. The university says the turtles are tracked with the GPS devices and a transmitter, allowing the students to determine a turtle’s location with a receiver and compare it to more precise GPS readings.

The school says the capturing and marking of turtles was done with approval from its Institute on Animal Care and Use Committee and a state educational wildlife collection permit.