Scientists attach video cameras to sea lions to map the ocean floor

How do you study unmapped areas of the ocean and identify critical habitat for an endangered species? You include the study animal in the scientific process!

At least, that's what researchers did with the Australian sea lion, which as seen population declines of over sixty percent in the last forty years. Researchers from the University of Adelaide fitted endangered Australian sea lions with cameras and tracking devices to better understand where they spent their time.

Upon the sea lions' return to shore a few days later, the cameras were gently removed. After reviewing the footage, researchers were surprised to learn the sea lions visited six distinct seafloor habitats. The scientists used this habitat data to build a computer model that can predict sea lion habitats in other areas.

The work was published this week in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.

This information could help scientists protect critical sea lion habitat, as well as give researchers a new tool for mapping the ocean floor. It has also inspired at least one other biologist to review footage collected from other animals.

"I think it would complete a lot of missing information in ... the underwater environment in general," says Maeva Ratsimbazafindranahaka, a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior. Ratsimbazafindranahaka plans to review video footage he's collected from humpback whales to see what else he can learn about their environment — and suspects other biologists might be inspired to do the same.

Interested in more underwater science? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

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Today's episode was produced by Hannah Chinn and Kai McNamee, and edited by Rebecca Ramirez and Christopher Intagliata. Valentina Rodriguez Sanchez was the engineer. Regina G. Barber, Berly McCoy, Hannah and Rebecca checked the facts.