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News Release 14-174
Antarctic seals may use Earth's magnetic field to navigate while hunting
Video available: Weddells may use "sixth sense" as a kind of GPS to find vital breathing holes after dives
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A Weddell seal in Antarctica. NSF-funded research indicates they may use the Earth's magnetic field to navigate.
Credit: Peter Rejcek, NSF
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Antarctica's Weddell seals have biological adaptations that allow them to dive deep--as much as of hundreds of meters--while hunting, but also an uncanny ability to find the breathing holes they need in the surface of the ice that covers the sea. Now, a team of researchers supported by the U.S. Antarctic Program, which is managed by the National Science Foundation, believe they have figured out they they navigate so well; by sensing the Earth's magnetic fields.
Credit: Story by Peter Rejcek/Produced by Ralph Maestas/Additional footage provided by Randall Davis
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