During a pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) translocation study in New Mexico, USA, in 2014, we outfitted 26 pregnant female pronghorn with vaginal implant transmitters (VITs) to better understand cause‐specific fawn mortality. All VITs were equipped with both temperature and photo (i.e., light) sensors. Partial expulsions were detected from VITs in April 2014, at least 2 weeks prior to fawn observations. In these instances, VITs were exposed to ambient daylight activating the photo sensor, which was “reset” daily after sunset. These false signals likely compromised both battery life as well as detection of actual fawn births as a result of time spent tracking false expulsions rather than focusing efforts on fawn capture. We tracked VITs of 19 females (n = 16 confirmed expelled). Expelled VITs assisted with fawn captures (n = 12) from 8 females. We were unable to capture fawns from some females with VITs because fawns were too old to capture or VIT signal failure limited our ability to correctly determine whether a birth occurred. Failure here is defined as a signal we were unable to hear due either to battery failure or geographic location of the VIT post‐expulsion. We also opportunistically captured fawns, either by monitoring and observing females outfitted with very‐high‐frequency (VHF) collars or using long‐range observations of unmarked females. Opportunistic captures resulted in fawn captures (n = 4) from 3 females with only VHF collars, and 13 fawns from 13 unmarked females. Fawn capture success from females whose VIT expelled was greater because fawns were smaller and less likely to flee. To minimize false expulsion signals in VITs, we recommend 1) modification of VIT wings to maintain position inside the vaginal canal until parturition, and 2) change VIT design to specifically fit pronghorn (i.e., design VITs using specific pronghorn vaginal canal measurement to ensure better VIT fit) to prevent premature partial or total expulsion. © 2019 The Wildlife Society.

中文翻译：

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阴道植入物变送器作为叉角小鹿捕获的工具

2014年，在美国新墨西哥州的一个叉角羚（Antilocapra americana）易位研究中，我们为26名怀孕的女性叉角羚配备了阴道植入发射器（VIT），以更好地了解因病引起的小鹿死亡率。所有VIT均配备了温度和光（即光）传感器。在小鹿观测之前至少2周，2014年4月在VIT中检测到部分驱逐。在这些情况下，VIT暴露在周围的日光下激活了光电传感器，该光电传感器每天日落之后都会“重置”。这些错误的信号可能会浪费电池寿命以及检测实际的小鹿出生，这是由于花费时间跟踪错误驱逐而不是专注于捕获小鹿而造成的。我们追踪了19位女性（n = 16确认被驱逐）。被驱逐的VIT协助 从8位雌性动物中捕获小鹿（n = 12）。我们无法从一些具有VIT的雌性动物中捕获小鹿，因为小鹿太老了，无法捕获或VIT信号故障限制了我们正确确定是否发生过分娩的能力。此处的故障定义为由于电池故障或驱逐后VIT的地理位置而无法听到的信号。我们还通过监视和观察配备有超高频（VHF）项圈的雌性或对未标记雌性进行远距离观察来机会捕获小鹿。机会捕获导致小鹿捕获（n = 4）来自3只雌性仅VHF衣领的雌性，以及13只未标记雌性的13条小鹿。小鹿捕捉到的VIT被驱逐出的雌性的成功率更高，因为小鹿更小且逃离的可能性较小。为了最大程度地减少VIT中的虚假驱除信号，我们建议1）修改VIT机翼以保持阴道管内的位置直到分娩，以及2）更改VIT设计以特别适合叉角羚（即，使用特定的叉角羚阴道管测量设计VIT以确保更好的适应性） VIT适合）以防止过早部分或全部驱逐。©2019野生动物协会。