Title:Elephant Seals

(SFX: splish splashing, elephant seal howls! )

     EVERY SPRING THE ELEPHANT SEALS COME BACK TO ANO NUEVO.  ELEPHANT SEALS ARE
SOME  OF THE ODDEST LOOKING CREATURES AROUND--THEY'RE HUGE, WEIGHING UP TO 5000
POUNDS AND REACHING 16 FEET LONG, WITH HUGE BULBOUS NOSES THAT LOOK LIKE SNUBBED
ELEPHANT TRUNKS. SCIENTISTS HAVE LEARNED LOTS ABOUT THE SEALS FROM THE YEARLY VISIT TO
THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BEACH.  BUT WHAT ABOUT THEIR LIFE IN THE OCEAN?  STUDYING
THE SEALS' HABITS AS THEY SPEND HOURS UNDER WATER AND DIVE DEEP INTO THE SEA IS A LITTLE
BIT HARDER. 

     Oliver:  "As a biologist I want to know how the animals is making a living.  I want to know
what sensoring queues is it using and since elephant seals are creatures of the deep and are
frequently feeding at half a mile down. . .I want to know what navigational systems they are
using and are they using the edges of currents where they tend to feed, If they are swimming
with the current , if they are swimming against the current"

     WHO BETTER TO TRACK THE SEALS BUT THEMSELVES?  MARINE BIOLOGIST GUY OLIVER AT
THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IN SANTA CRUZ HAS DEVELOPED A SENSOR TO ATTACH TO THE
SEALS BACK THAT CAN TRACK THEIR MOVEMENTS.

     Oliver:  "They can reach any part of their body with their flippers and so if they were
there scratching to remove it I would be very concerned I would also not have the instrument
stay on. . . other animals come up to them and look at them and smell it and then move on." 

     AND WHILE THE SEALS DON'T SEEM TO NOTICE THE SENSORS, SCIENTISTS CAN LEARN A
LOT FROM THEM.  THE SENSORS ARE TAPPED INTO THE GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM SO THEY
CAN TRACK WHERE THE SEALS TRAVEL, WHERE THEY FEED AND EVEN BRING BACK
INFORMATION ON THE DEEP OCEAN WATER.

     Oliver: "We're getting a free ride from these animals to collect large amounts of data . .
. and then we can work together to understand what is the habitat like and how does that fit
into the overall environment."