Site of the Day for Thursday, December 13, 2001
2001 Antarctic Expedition
The Foraging Biology of Weddell Seals
Sounds like the biology field trip of your worst nightmare, doesn't it? Not
a bit of it! Turn up the thermostat or put on an extra sweater and explore
this fascinating website.
"The Expedition: Our research team is in Antarctica conducting a scientific
investigation concerning the feeding biology of Weddell seals. These large
phocid seals must hunt and capture fish while diving under the frozen
Antarctic sea ice. To accomplish this, Weddell seals travel to great depths
in freezing, dark water where the pressure is so high that it squeezes
their lungs to a fraction of their normal size. AND the seals must capture
their prey while holding their breath. The question is, how do they do it?
The purpose our expedition is to answer this question so that we may better
understand the biology of the animals living in the Antarctic ecosystem." -
from the website
Discover the answers these scientists found. Complete with great
photographs, (which make you wonder how tough were the conditions since the
scientists wore t-shirts in their living quarters) undersea sounds of the
seals and explanatory graphs, the site offers a wealth of detail, not only
of the Weddell seals but Antarctica itself.
This is a site you might wish to bookmark for any budding biologists in
your family.
Dive over to the site for the best biology field trip you never had to
take.
http://www.biology.ucsc.edu/people/williams/antarctic/
A.M. Holm
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