Seal bulls in the service of science
"Gustavo" is an imposing bull always in search of the best feeding grounds. The elephant seal weighing 3 tons and measuring 4 metres in length belongs to a group of 14 animals that serve researchers of the Alfred Wegener Institute as scientific assistants since recently. At the beginning of the Antarctic winter - from mid-March to the end of April - the mighty elephant seal bulls were tagged with state-of-the-art satellite transmitters at the Dallmann Laboratory on King George Island. In the coming months marine biologists Dr. Joachim Plotz and Dr. Horst Bornemann can now follow from their desk in Bremerhaven where the animals migrate, where they find prey at what depth and under what oceanographic conditions the food supply is exceptionally good in the Southern Ocean.