Lost years in the life of animals

Where animals spend the first years of their life is hardly known - Icarus wants to change this

The most difficult time for most animals is to move away from their birth area. In many species, these juveniles are lost for many years and their travel routes are unknown – most individuals die during this hard time.

Icaurs plans to study these lost years with long-lasting ear tags (in mammals) or small solar tags in sea turtles, giant land tortoises, and sea birds. By this, the project will fill numerous gaps in knowledge about the lives of young animals and facilitate the protection of endangered species.

Animals: Bears, pumas, cheetahs, sea turtles, giant land tortoises

Locations: Bears: Kamchatka, pumas: Central America, turtles: Florida, tortoises: Galapagos, cheetahs: Namibia

Contact: Liya Pokrovskaya, Roland Kays, Kate Mansfield (Dept. of Biology, University of Central Florida, USA), Steve Blake, Martin Wikelski (MPI of Animal Behavior, Konstanz/Germany)