“Through trial and error, they found feral cats were most averse to the sound of human voices and domestic cats were most averse to the sound of other cats.”
RNZ recently published an article on research into using ABRs as a non lethal deterrent for cats to protect the nesting grounds of endangered birds in New Zealand.
By Kate Green, Senior Reporter Published in Radio New Zealand (RNZ). Image Credit: Patrick Garvey
“By understanding how different
noises impact various species,
land managers can make informed
management decisions, including
where to build trails or whether
to limit group sizes.”
The latest Science You Can Use bulletin discusses how noise can lead to habitat loss and the implications this has for park managers trying to balance demand for outdoor recreation with protecting wildlife.
By US Forestry Service Published in Science You Can Use Bulletin – Issue 71 2025. Image Credit: Kathy Zeller and Mark Ditmer.
“The researchers suggest three possible reasons for the fear: competition for resources, aggressive behaviour of elephants, and “generalised neophobia”: fear of anything new.”
An article on research into fear responses to elephants in Kruger National Park by teams from US, South Africa and Swazi.
By Ellen Phiddian. Published in Cosmos Magazine. Image Credit: Jami Tarris / Getty Images.
“It is very difficult to talk in Afrikaans …,” begins the bodiless voice. The leopard pauses, glances toward the source of the sound and then drops its hard-earned quarry and runs.
An article on animal responses to ABRs in Kruger National Park, and the latest research by Dr Liana Zanette of Western University and her team.
By Lesley Evans Ogden. Published in New York Times.
“Wildlife, more often than not, probably hear us before they see us, and so we can rarely observe if it is a negative response.”
An article on a deployment by Kathy Zeller and Mark Ditmer, studying the impact of human noises on wildlife in Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest.
By Christine Peterson. Published in High Country News. Image from Deposit Photos.
“So we get this really beautiful, really elegant experiment where, without all those confounding influences of human observers being present, you have wildlife in a natural setting responding to cues that you programme in as a researcher … “
An interview with Dr. Meredith Palmer on experiments with BoomBox and other technologies.
By Mike Gaworecki. Published on Mongabay Newscast.
“This new design can capture responses of numerous species to a user-defined set of cues, generating sample sizes sufficient to evaluate ecological hypotheses that would be untestable using standard methods.”
A summary of the original BoomBox paper, covering the ABR methodology, what BoomBox is, and the effectiveness of BoomBox in the wild.
By Meredith Palmer. Published on the Methods in Ecology and Evolution’s blog.
“We’d just been working with Mp3 playback technology for board games based on Jacinta’s children’s book. So the starting point for the BoomBox was literally a chip designed for toys …”
An article with Dr. Meredith Palmer and Akiba and Jacinta from Freaklabs on the origins of the BoomBox collaboration and device.
By Ellie Warren. Published on WILDLABS.