National Geographic Kids - USA (2021-12)

AMAZING

ANIMALS

10 NAT GEO KIDS^ • DECEMBER 2021 / JANUARY 2022

DAN COSTA / UC SANTA CRUZ (WEDDELL SEAL, BIG IMAGE); SARA LABROUSSE WAPITI CRUISE JR16004 (WEDDELL SEAL);

XINHUA NEWS AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES (PANDA); SIMONA JIŘIČKOVÁ / SAFARI PARK DVŮR KRÁLOVÉ (CHIMP)

Antarctica

These researchers don’t need beakers

or lab coats—they’re seals!

Scientists wanted to collect hard-

to-get data that might provide clues to

science mysteries, like how climate change is affecting the ocean and the

animals that live there. So an international team enlisted the help of

Weddell and southern elephant seals.

First, researchers harmlessly glued sensors to the seals’ heads that

monitored behavior, location, water temperature, and the amount of salt

in the water. Then the seals swam away, diving up to 6,500 feet under the

sea ice for up to 90 minutes at a time while the sensors transmitted the

data. (The trackers fell off later.)

“They can go where boats and scientists can’t,” Antarctic marine ecologist

Sara Labrousse says.

The information has helped scientists learn more about how animals

and their prey are affected by changes in the ocean—and even why mysterious

holes in sea ice are appearing. “We don’t have a lot of data beneath the

sea ice, so it’s very precious information,” Labrousse says. We’d give these

seals an A+ in science class. —Bethany Augliere

A WEDDELL

SEAL SPORTS

A SCIENTIFIC

SENSOR.

Sea

ls

Solve

Ocean

Mys

terie

s

DO I HAVE

SOMETHING

ON MY HEAD?

WEDDELL SEAL