The “smart collar” — in development in academia and intended for commercial production in the next few years, use a combination of global positioning technology and accelerometers for measuring an animal’s metabolic inner life in leaping, running or sleeping.

The smart collar measures how animals move and eat and live their lives — and could fundamentally transform how wild populations are managed, and imagined, biologists and wildlife managers say.

‘Smart Collar’ in the Works to Manage Wildlife Better August 29, 2011, The New York Times (registration required)