<
https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/22945867/elephant-seals-listening-beaked-whales-ocean>
"Roughly a decade ago, a team of biologists glued audio recording devices onto
the backs of a handful of elephant seals on the California coast. They wanted
to know if the seals — identified as males by their cartoonish faces with
trunk-like noses — make noises as they swim out to sea in search of food.
The recordings they brought back caught the researchers by surprise. There was
no evidence of seals vocalizing while foraging, but the devices did pick up
something else: the eerie, clicking calls of sperm whales, which sound like
someone walking up a creaky staircase. Some of the calls also seemed to get
louder, leading the researchers to believe that the seals were swimming toward
the whales, and maybe even eavesdropping on them to find food.
Nothing much came of that discovery, but it has inspired marine biologists to
use seals as a tool to eavesdrop on other marine life. Elephant seals spend
about nine months each year at sea and travel across far reaches of the Pacific
that would otherwise be difficult for scientists to survey. And like migratory
birds, the seals return to the same spot year after year, so researchers can
equip them with recording devices and retrieve them relatively easily.
As soon as next week, marine biologists at the University of California Santa
Cruz (UCSC) will test out this slippery technique. They’ll attach acoustic
monitors to a few northern elephant seals before the animals depart for a
little over two months.
If all goes as planned, it will be the first time scientists use animals —
rather than a network of underwater microphones — to spy on marine life in the
deep ocean for longer than a few days. What they overhear could help scientists
unlock the mysteries of elusive marine mammals, such as beaked whales, and
understand how poorly known ecosystems are changing as the planet warms."
Via Esther Schindler.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
