{"id":114728,"date":"2018-04-12T11:27:32","date_gmt":"2018-04-12T15:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=114728"},"modified":"2018-07-27T14:23:00","modified_gmt":"2018-07-27T18:23:00","slug":"bates-club-of-antarctica-if-you-give-a-seal-a-camera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2018\/04\/12\/bates-club-of-antarctica-if-you-give-a-seal-a-camera\/","title":{"rendered":"Bates Club of Antarctica: If you give a seal a camera"},"content":{"rendered":"

Doug Krause \u201999 is all about leopard seals. A research biologist, he goes to Antarctica\u2019s South Shetland Islands each year to study those grizzly bear-sized marine mammals (as well as a few other animals). <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
The Bates Club of Antarctica<\/h5>\n

This is Part 2 of a series about Bates alumni who spent this winter in Antarctica.<\/p>\n

Part 1: If glaciers could talk, what would they say?<\/a><\/p>\n

Part 3: Fossils and beach volleyball on a glacier<\/a><\/p>\n

Part 4: The secrets of the lakes<\/a><\/p>\n

Part 5: It\u2019s a whale\u2019s world<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/section>\n

The work involves a lot of catching, tagging, and releasing, as well as using drones and even attaching cameras to seals\u2019 backs. What Krause finds can tell us a lot about the ecology of the Antarctic Peninsula, and how climate change affects it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The question<\/h5>\n

How do leopard seals get their food?<\/span><\/p>\n

The researcher<\/h5>\n

Krause is a research biologist with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries. When he’s not in Antarctica, he’s based in southern California.<\/p>\n

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Doug Krause ’99 operates a drone to track leopard seals off the Antarctic Peninsula. (Courtesy of Doug Krause)<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/h5>\n
An Old Hat<\/h5>\n

Krause has made 12 trips to Antarctica since 2002.<\/p>\n

The Bates connection<\/h5>\n

\u201cMy degree was in biology,\u201d Krause says. \u201cI had a professor, Will Ambrose, who was doing active research in the Arctic. That was very captivating to me; polar research and polar exploration were on my mind from that stage. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter graduation, I had the opportunity to take a position as a field biologist in the Antarctic. It was supposed to be only for a couple of years starting in 2002, but I got down there and fell in love with it.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The place<\/h5>\n

Cape Shirreff on Livingston Island, about 600 miles south of Chile. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Image via Google Maps<\/p><\/div>\n

Why leopard seals are just the coolest<\/h5>\n

As Krause told <\/span>the Discovery Channel<\/a><\/span>, \u201cI can say, being completely unbiased, that leopard seals are the single most interesting marine mammal, or possibly animal, anywhere in the world.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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A leopard seal rests on an ice flow. (Courtesy of Doug Krause)<\/p><\/div>\n

That\u2019s because they\u2019re at the top of the food chain, and they\u2019re the only seals that eat other seals. They\u2019re torpedo-shaped and streamlined like gray seals and harbor seals, but they\u2019re also maneuverable like sea lions. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why study leopard seals?<\/h5>\n

Leopard seals are \u201cindicator species,\u201d meaning you can learn a lot about the ecosystem by studying them. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur job is to understand the health of the whole marine ecosystem. Our work is mostly focused on antarctic krill \u2014 they are a crucial part near the base of the food web, and many other things depend on them as food: fish, whales, seals, penguins, birds.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe track the populations of these indicator species, where they go, what they\u2019re eating, and how hard they\u2019re working to get that food. Understanding how hard they have to work and how they\u2019re doing it gives us a better understanding of the krill itself.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

How he does it<\/h5>\n

Krause and his team use photography, including drone photography, and tagging to track populations and the seals’ diets.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe track what they\u2019re eating using a few technologies,\u201d he says. \u201cOne is stable isotope analysis, where we take a bit of tissue and figure out what they\u2019ve been eating from that. We also sift through their scats, which is really glamorous.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

What they found<\/h5>\n

Lately, the team has put cameras on the seals\u2019 backs to record how they get their food. The resulting footage, which has been featured on National Geographic TV and <\/span>60 Minutes Australia<\/span><\/a>, shows for the first time that leopard seals spend much of their time hunting, and they have individual hunting patterns. (In the clip <\/a>below, a leopard seal ambushes an Antarctic fur seal pup).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/04\/40317_2015_59_MOESM5_ESM-5.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

\u201cWe learned that individuals have their own hunting strategy, and that is really important when you try to relate this back to ecosystem impact,\u201d Krause says. <\/span><\/p>\n

Antarctic living<\/h5>\n

Krause and his team live in cabin-like buildings with a shared kitchen. They take showers once a week using rainwater or melted snow, and communications are limited. An October snowstorm might mean a 35-minute dig to the outhouse. <\/span><\/p>\n

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When he’s in Antarctica, Krause stays at the NOAA field camp on Cape Shirreff. (Courtesy of Doug Krause)<\/p><\/div>\n

There are some upsides. \u201cEvery year, the exact same thing happens about two weeks after I get there,\u201d Krause says. \u201cI will get a bit of chest congestion and have some mucus for about a day, then it disappears. That process is essentially my body shedding the pollution that I\u2019ve taken on a very regular basis in Southern California.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Climate connection<\/h5>\n

The temperature in the Antarctic Peninsula has shot up as much as 7 degrees Celsius since the 1950s, leading to receding glaciers and rapid ecological change. <\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to study leopard seals and what they eat, Krause says. \u201cWatching how these ecosystems and how groups of animals respond to rapid change will provide valuable information for the ecological community on what effects we can expect throughout the rest of the globe.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Following the Law<\/h5>\n

The Marine Mammal Protection Act limits capturing, killing, or harassing marine mammals in U.S. waters. It also applies to U.S. citizens working in international waters. Krause, being the latter, took his leopard seal photos and video\u00a0in accordance with MMPA permit nos.\u00a016472 and 20599.<\/p>\n

Learn more<\/h5>\n

National Geographic<\/span><\/i><\/a> and <\/span>60 Minutes Australia<\/span><\/i><\/a> both featured Krause\u2019s work with leopard seals.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more about Bates alumni in Antarctica<\/h5>\n

Bates Club of Antarctica: If glaciers could talk, what would they say?<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n