© Seppo Ronkainen, LUKE, Finland

Mortality Implant (MIT)

All Wildlife Products

The MIT is designed to inform you immediately if your study animal has died. The Mortality Implant Transmitter is a stainless steel tube which can be placed either into the rumen or into the abdominal cavity of the animal. For the latter a surgery is needed and it is only recommended for non ruminants or rumniants with a small esophagus/rumen.

The MIT contains a highly sensitive acceleration sensor and a temperature sensor. Unlike the mortality sensors based on the accelaration sensor inside VERTEX Plus collars, the MIT is able to detect the heartbeat of the animal. The MIT frequently sends status messages of the animal to the GPS collar using UHF communication. With each position message, the most recent body temperature and the status (alive/dead) can be sent remotely as well. Optionally the GPS collar can send a seperate mortality message via GSM or IRIDIUM.

The MIT

  • stores body temperature with an accuracy of 0.1°C
  • detects slightest movements and stores them
  • sends the most recent data of temperature and status (dead or alive) with each position message
  • sends a mortality message via GSM or IRIDIUM VERTEX Plus collars (optional)

 

Applications

  • Cause of Mortality: Find out the cause of death.
  • Carcass studies: Observe the area of the kill. What species visit it, who else is feeding on the carcass.
  • Physiological data: Use the temperature data as true physiological data to find answers for internal processes, adaption processes or even animal welfare.

 

Heartbeat and motion: A highly sensitive acceleration sensor detects the slightest movements like a heartbeat or breathing. If no motion has been detected for four minutes, the animal is presumed dead and a mortality alert notification message with the current GPS position data is sent with any of the 3 remote communication option. The VERTEX Plus collar’s VHF beacon will also switch to mortality mode.

Temperature: Body temperature is measured with an accuracy of 0.1°C. Following pre-defined intervals, the temperature is sent to the VERTEX Plus collar and stored in the collar memory.