Zoologists use a wide range of tools, from GPS-enabled tracking collars and motion-activated camera traps to DNA sequencing equipment and drones with thermal cameras. The specific toolkit depends on whether the work happens in the field, underwater, in a lab, or at a computer, but modern zoology increasingly blends all four.
Tracking Collars and Telemetry
Following animals across landscapes requires technology that can keep up. GPS and satellite collars are the backbone of large-mammal research, transmitting location data through cellular networks (GSM, LTE), Iridium satellite connections, or digitally coded UHF radio signals at 434 MHz. A researcher studying wolves or elk might fit a collar that pings its coordinates to a satellite every few hours, building a detailed map of the animal’s movements over weeks or months without anyone needing to be nearby.
Smaller animals get smaller tags. PowerTags, lightweight transmitters designed to attach to collars or harnesses, let researchers track species that can’t carry a full GPS unit. Radio telemetry, the older version of this technology, still sees heavy use: a researcher holds up a directional antenna, listens for a beeping signal, and follows it to locate the animal. It’s low-tech compared to satellite tracking, but reliable and inexpensive for short-range work.
Camera Traps
Camera traps are motion-activated cameras strapped to trees or posts along animal trails, water sources, or den sites. When an animal walks past, an infrared sensor triggers the shutter. At night, an infrared or white flash illuminates the scene. These devices run unattended for weeks, capturing thousands of images that reveal which species live in an area, how often they appear, and what times they’re active.
Modern camera traps have moved well beyond simple point-and-shoot boxes. Cellular-enabled models use a SIM card and local cell towers to transmit photos in near real time, so researchers can check images from their office instead of hiking to each camera. Satellite-enabled versions do the same from remote locations with no cell coverage, though at higher cost. Some systems even network multiple cameras together wirelessly, relaying data from one unit to the next until it reaches a base station. Solar panels paired with rechargeable batteries help extend deployments in the field, solving one of the biggest practical headaches: frequent battery changes. Faster trigger speeds and better filtering of false positives (like wind-blown branches) remain active priorities for the technology.
Drones and Thermal Imaging
Drones have transformed wildlife surveys, especially for species that are hard to spot from the ground. Equipped with thermal cameras, drones detect the heat signatures of warm-blooded animals against cooler backgrounds like forest canopy or open water. Researchers have used this approach to find koalas in eucalyptus trees, count sea turtles on nesting beaches, and survey nocturnal birds that would be nearly invisible otherwise.
In one study of endangered nocturnal gliders in Australia, researchers flew DJI Matrice 300 and M30T drones fitted with 640 x 512 pixel radiometric thermal cameras. The thermal imagery allowed them to spot animals hiding in tree canopies at night, covering survey areas of 100 to 200 hectares per session. That’s far more ground than a team with flashlights and binoculars could manage. Interestingly, the drone surveys produced lower population density estimates than traditional ground counts extrapolated from small plots, suggesting that ground surveys may sometimes overestimate populations when results from a 10-hectare sample area are scaled up.
Underwater Monitoring Equipment
Marine zoologists rely on a different set of tools entirely. Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), essentially underwater robots controlled from a surface vessel, carry cameras into deep water where divers can’t safely go. Hydrophones, underwater microphones, pick up the clicks, songs, and calls of whales, dolphins, and other marine species. Passive acoustic arrays of multiple hydrophones can even track an animal’s movement; researchers have followed harbor porpoises swimming within 60 meters of tidal turbines using this method.
Sonar systems add another layer. Multibeam imaging sonar operates at frequencies around 0.9 MHz and uses hundreds of beams (768 in one common configuration) to create detailed images of animals moving underwater, with a field of view spanning 132 by 20 degrees and a range of up to 100 meters. Unlike cameras, sonar works in murky or dark water where visibility is near zero, making it essential for monitoring marine mammals and fish around underwater structures like renewable energy installations.
Insect Collection Tools
Entomologists, zoologists who specialize in insects, use tools that look very different from GPS collars. Malaise traps are stationary mesh tents with open sides and a central fabric wall. Flying insects hit the wall, instinctively crawl or fly upward, and end up funneled into a collecting jar at the top. These traps run continuously without bait or attractants, making them especially useful for ecological surveys and for capturing rare or short-lived species that might be missed by active collecting.
Other standard insect tools include aspirators (small suction devices for picking up tiny insects without crushing them), beating sheets (fabric stretched on a frame, held under branches while the branches are tapped to dislodge insects), pitfall traps (cups buried flush with the ground to catch crawling species), and Berlese funnels, which use a heat source above a soil or leaf litter sample to drive tiny invertebrates downward into a collection vial. Each tool targets a different group of insects based on where and how they move.
Sedation and Biopsy Equipment
Studying wild animals up close often means immobilizing them first. Remote drug delivery systems, commonly called dart guns, fire a syringe-tipped projectile containing a sedative. These range from simple blowpipes effective at 1 to 10 meters, to gas-powered pistols reaching 15 to 30 meters, to rifle-style systems that can deliver a dart from 40 to 60 meters away. The darts themselves use different discharge mechanisms to inject their contents on impact: compressed air, spring-loaded plungers, small explosive charges, or a chemical reaction between an acid and baking soda that generates gas pressure.
Specialty biopsy darts carry a small hollow needle instead of a sedative. They punch out a tiny tissue sample on contact and bounce off, letting the animal go without full sedation. The tissue provides DNA for genetic studies, hormone levels, or disease screening. This approach is common in cetacean research, where a dart fired from a crossbow collects a skin and blubber sample from a whale that surfaces to breathe.
Genetic Analysis in the Lab
Back in the laboratory, zoologists use molecular tools to answer questions that fieldwork alone can’t. DNA extracted from blood, tissue, hair, or even environmental samples (like water filtered for traces of shed cells) gets analyzed to identify species, measure genetic diversity, confirm parentage, or track population structure across a region.
The core lab workflow involves several specialized instruments. Real-time PCR systems amplify specific DNA segments and measure them as the reaction runs, letting researchers quickly confirm whether a target gene or species marker is present. Fluorometers measure DNA concentration using fluorescent dyes, detecting quantities as low as 0.01 nanograms per microliter. Electrophoresis systems like the TapeStation assess fragment size and quality, handling DNA ranging from 35 to over 60,000 base pairs depending on the analysis type. For projects requiring very long DNA fragments, pulsed-field electrophoresis instruments can separate high molecular weight DNA through 165,000 base pairs, which is critical for assembling complete genomes.
Size selection tools let researchers isolate DNA fragments within a specific length range before sequencing, filtering out pieces that are too short or too long for the sequencing platform being used. All of this feeds into DNA sequencers that read the genetic code, producing data that can take weeks of computational analysis to interpret fully.
GIS and Spatial Analysis Software
Nearly every zoology project generates spatial data, whether it’s GPS points from a tracking collar, coordinates of camera trap detections, or locations where a species was observed during a survey. Geographic Information System (GIS) software turns that data into maps and models. Researchers layer animal location data over satellite imagery, vegetation maps, elevation data, and climate variables to understand why animals use certain areas and avoid others.
Habitat suitability modeling is one of the most common applications. Software tools assess how well a given landscape matches a species’ needs by correlating environmental variables (forest cover, distance to water, temperature range) with known occurrence data. Statistical methods like Spearman rank correlation help identify which environmental factors matter most. The output is typically a color-coded map showing areas ranked from highly suitable to unsuitable, which directly informs conservation planning, reserve design, and predictions about how species might respond to habitat loss or climate shifts.