GPS tagging research on feral cat and fox behaviour after fire events, reveals concerning information about the distance predators move and a change in diet from larger to smaller native animal species.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 3 minutes 38 seconds 3 m 38 s University of Melbourne PhD student Bronwyn Hradsky on her fox research ( Emma Brown ) Download 1.7 MB

A fox with a GPS collar is caught on camera in the Otway Ranges. ( Supplied )

University of Melbourne PhD student Bronwyn Hradsky has been monitoring foxes and feral cats in the Victorian Otway Ranges.

She said tracking of animals emphasised the different individual behaviours of the pests, but revealed concerning data about how far they can travel and how their prey changes after a fire event.

"We know surprisingly little about how they behave particularly in our forest landscapes," she said.

"What we found was that the foxes and cats, there's some evidence that they increased in numbers so that they were attracted to the burnt areas of the forest post fire."

Ms Hradsky said understanding the behaviour of the pests may help to make eradication methods more effective.

She said several foxes were so quick to return to burnt areas they were discovered to have burns on their paws.

"What the foxes were eating changed a lot, so before the fire the foxes were eating swamp wallabies," she said.

"But after the fire they starting eating lots more medium sized native mammals, so things like bandicoots and ringtail possums, which is pretty concerning because these sized animals are the ones most impacted by foxes and feral cats.

"One thing that is becoming really clear is how far these animals are able to move and if you've got an animal that can trot eight or 14 kilometres easily in a night there's not much point doing really localised fox control.

"You need to coordinate it over a bigger district."