If you have had the privilege of spending plenty of time watching wildlife in Africa's wilderness areas, it is likely that you have spotted an animal wearing a collar. In the context of a safari in the wilderness the presence of a clunky leather collar around the neck of a majestic lion or elephant may seem out of place and even jarring, as it reminds us that man's impact on the environment extends right into the lives of individual animals. This may leave you wondering: why are collars necessary? What benefit do the animals get from humans catching and collaring them? What information do scientists get from these devices, and how is it used? The basic reason for attaching a tracking device to an animal (not all devices are collars) is to find out where animals go and what they do across the landscape. These devices either send their location directly to the researchers' computers via satellites, or store this information until they are retrieved and the data points are downloaded. Although one could try to find out where animals go by following them day and night, come rain or shine, such an effort would require enormous amounts of time to gather enough information to be useful for answering scientific questions. Furthermore, the presence of a person or vehicle may interfere with the animal's normal behaviour, for example, by disturbing hunting or mating. Some animals, like bats, fish and birds, would be impossible to follow so closely anyway. Attaching a device that can tell us where the animal goes 24/7 without our constant presence is therefore considered a less intrusive and more practical approach to wildlife research.