Welcome to Movebank's data repository!
Through this repository, Movebank allows users to publish animal tracking datasets that have been uploaded to Movebank (www.movebank.org). Published datasets have gone through a submission and review process, and are typically associated with a written study published in an academic journal. All animal tracking data in this repository are available to the public.
We invite you to read more about the repository and browse the datasets.
Collections
Recent Publications
Moveapps Workflow
MoveApps Workflow: Interaction with Human Infrastructure
(MoveApps, 2024-11-27) Ketchin, Matthew
Moveapps Workflow
MoveApps Workflow: Detection of Stationarity
(MoveApps, 2024-09) Armfield, Margaux; Böck, Matthias; Neves, Tomé; Merdian-Tarko, Alexander; Minchin, Lauren
Moveapps Workflow
MoveApps Workflow: Range Estimation
(MoveApps, 2024-07-30) Beaupre, Chloe; Jain, Varalika
Data package
Data from: Ice cover and partner removal increase movements of invasive mesopredator in the coastal island mosaic
(2025-06-16) Toivonen, Pyry; Toivola, Mikko; Selonen, Vesa
1. The invasion of new areas is influenced by landscape structure, seasonal conditions, and social interactions. Coastal and lake landscapes pose unique challenges for land animals due to water barriers, while the ice cover in northern latitudes can facilitate movement. For invasive alien species, information on movement capabilities provides data for management.
2. This study examines the movement patterns of an invasive mesopredator, raccoon dog, in a fragmented coastal environment in southwestern Finland to better understand its movement capabilities and potential expansion. Using GPS tracking, we investigated individual movements between islands, considering the role of ice cover, island connectivity, and social interactions (partner removal by management).
3. The raccoon dog has low winter activity levels, but our findings demonstrate that the individuals remain active during cold season and use ice cover to reach islands perhaps otherwise unreachable. The number and connectivity of islands also play a crucial role in movement distances. Moreover, the partner removal increases movement between islands during the summer. We conclude that the raccoon dog is highly mobile in coastal landscape, with ice cover facilitating movements between islands.
4. Practical implication: To effectively manage this invasive species, creating single individuals should be avoided before avian breeding season. This strategy can help prevent solitary raccoon dogs from wandering and potentially colonizing new areas. Melting ice due to climate change is often mentioned as a benefit to invasive species, but our results provide an example of where the ice cover potentially enhances movement of an invasive species and thus requires consideration.
Data package
Data from: Study "GPS tracking of Texas Tortoises in South Texas USA (Guerra et al. 2025)"
(2025-06-09) Guerra, Daniel A.; Veech, Joseph A.; Esque, Todd C.; Davis, Drew R.
Context: The relationship between slope and terrestrial animal locomotion is key to landscape ecology but underexplored across species. This is partly due to a lack of scalable methodology that applies to a diversity of wildlife.
Objectives: This study investigates the slope-speed relationship for two species, Texas tortoise (Gopherus berlandieri) and pronghorn (Antilocapra americana), through the combined application of remote sensing, GPS tracking, behavior models, and parametric distribution. While using readily available Digital Elevation Models (DEM) for pronghorn, we explore the use of very high-resolution lidar Digital Terrain Models (DTM) from Unoccupied Aerial Systems (UAS) to characterize tortoise movements at micro-scales.
Methods: After classifying animal behavior with GPS tracking data and Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), we analyzed the relationship between the speed of the animals and the slope of the terrain using a 30-m DEM for pronghorn, and a fine-scale UAS DTM for Texas tortoise, and three nonlinear models: Laplace, Gauss, and Lorentz.
Results: High-resolution DTM, coupled with GPS tracking, accurately models the relationship of speed and slope at a micro-scale, while a DEM is suitable for a larger scale. Laplace models best predicted the speed of both the Texas tortoise and pronghorn. Models showed tortoises, which are not known for rapid and agile movement like the pronghorn, have a broader tolerance for varying slopes at a fine scale.
Conclusions: These findings enhance understanding of species-specific movement offering valuable insights for habitat management and conservation tailored to species’ behaviors and capabilities.