Radio telemetry is a popular and dependable wildlife research tool that has been in use for years.
Nearly every red wolf in the Alligator River region is fitted with a collar that emits a radio signal of a specific frequency. To locate a wolf, the researcher simply rotates a directional antenna and listens for a distinctive beeping noise. When the antenna picks up the loudest beeping, the researcher marks that bearing on a map and then moves to a second location and repeats the process. The signal's frequency in turn identifies the wolf by code number and sex. Thus, it's possible to learn a lot about a wolf without actually seeing it.