Nicole Teutschel at UC Santa Cruz Long Marine Lab, CA -- After we recovered 16 tags, and deployed 19 tags on a new group of seals, the E-Seal team gets a break today…well sort of. The E-Seal team will be working on prepping the last three tags that will be deployed this weekend. These last three seals will be equipped with GPS tags. GPS tags produce high quality tracks using the GPS satellite system, and provide researchers excellent quality data that can be used to study habitat choice, navigation, behavior and you name it! We'll also be helping some colleagues of ours put a small video camera on one of the seals.

The GPS tag mounted on the tough mesh material. The tape is also shown; it is black outlining the bottom of the tag where glue will be in contact with the apparatus.

To get the tags ready, the E-Seal Team programs the tags specifically for elephant seals back at the lab. These GPS tags can be deployed on many species in various environments -- the Antarctic, off Mexico, in Alaska, the Galapagos and, of course, in Año Nuevo. Programing the tags refines how the tag will collect data during the trip so that we can obtain the most appropriate data needed to study that particular animal and its habitat.

E-Seal Team research leader Daniel Costa and graduate student Jason Hassrick program one of the last GPS tags for deployment. There's a small computer port on the tag that the TOPP team uses to connect the tag to the computer for programming.

After the tag is programmed, the E-Seal Team will outfit it with the gear needed to attach it to the animal. First we drill small holes in the side of the tag, where strong fishing lines and zip ties will be strung to attach the tag to a mesh material. Then we wrap the tag to protect it from the strong glue that we use to attach it to the animal. This tag and mesh setup will be glued to the animal…and is strong enough to travel for thousands of miles through the ocean without coming loose!

The zip ties and the special tape that we use to wrap the tag not only protect the tag during its journey, but provide an easy way for us to remove the tag when the seal returns. Instead of pulling the whole set-up off the seal, the zip ties, tape, and string are easily cut. The tag can then be removed, and the patch is left on the animal. After we remove the tag, the seals molt off their fur, as well as the patch that's glued to that fur. That way, there's no lasting effect on the seal after the tags are recovered.