Introduction to the Special Feature on Movement Ecology, guest edited by Bram van Moorter, Manuela Panzacchi, Francesca Cagnacci and Mark S. Boyce. In this editorial for the Special Feature, I firstly briefly review the major milestones in tool development for movement ecology research, from the first mark–recapture techniques to the current techniques allowing users to collect high-frequency movement data and high-resolution environmental data, as well as the methods for statistical and mathematical analyses. I then briefly describe the methods covered in the Special Feature and conclude with a brief outlook on ongoing and future developments.