Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Stalking seals and penguins for science

I suppose I shouldn't really call tagging animals in order to analyze their movements stalking, but if you, John and Jane Q. Nonscientist, visit a new public website that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has established, you might just be stalking unsuspecting Antarctic animals. Scientists from NOAA have tagged fur seals, leopard seals, Weddell seals, chinstrap penguins and gentoo penguins so that they can analyze their movements during the Antarctic winter, when it's too difficult for human researchers to follow them in person. They've also made it possible for the public to see the locations of the tagged animals over at http://swfsc.noaa.gov/AntarcticPredators/. Stalking, but for science! I hope Mark Zuckerberg doesn't find out about this.

I can't wait to see what these Antarctic predators are up to during the harsh Antarctic winter.

1 comment:

Dan said...

I love the idea of this. What a great way to get the public interested in marine science!!!