American wildlife biologists first began fitting animals with radio transmitters in the 1950s. By the 1980s the practice had proven so useful to scientists and nonscientists alike that it became global. This book investigates the origin, evolution, use and impact of these now-commonplace tracking technologies.
Combining approaches from environmental history, the history of science and technology, animal studies and the cultural and political history of the United States, the author traces the radio tracking of wild animals across a wide range of institutions, regions and species and in a variety of contexts. He explains how hunters, animal-rights activists and other conservation-minded groups gradually turned tagging from a tool for control into a conduit for connection with wildlife.