News Release 14-174 - Video
Antarctic seals may use the Earth's magnetic field to survive while hunting.
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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