fishery biologist John Shepherd once say that “ bet Pisces the Fishes is like counting tree — except you ca n’t see them and they move . ” This can make animal conduct inquiry super difficult . And while progressively in advance electronic telemetry tags can tell us a lot , there ’s just no stand-in for see a behavior on television .
Knowing how fauna do in the wild is critical for conservation policymakers who want to regularize the surround in agency that reflect the reality of wild fauna life . But how do you learn fauna who are outside human habitat ? more and more , scientist are using fauna - mount tv camera .
National Geographic ’s CritterCam systemhas been deploy on more than 50 species of sharks , marine mammals , turtle and penguins , and similar engineering is being used by enquiry team all over the world . Meanwhile theInishowen Basking Shark Study Groupin Ireland learn the world ’s second bombastic fish , which can reach 12 meters in duration and weigh up to 4 metrical tons .
HeatherVance , a alumnus student at Queens University Belfast , is using animate being - borne video television camera to take the demeanor of these ill read animals . “ I think the matter that interests me most about basking sharks is how mystical they are , ” Vance said . “ There is still so much we do n’t know about them and this means that when we study them we can find out matter that no one ever knew before ! ”
These camera also contain biologgers that can measure deepness , 3D quickening , compass heading , and other environmental variable . blend picture footage with this information can unveil much about the behavior of bask sharks .
“ For instance , we have investigated vigor consumption in relation to feeding strategy , ” Vance said . “ We hypothecate that when basking shark spread their vast mouths to feed they are create a great spate of drag and swim should become more energetically costly . Using the photographic camera footage we were able to identify periods when the sharks were eating . We then coupled this with our indirect measures of energy expending and find that shark are use more vim when feed than when swim with a closed mouth . ”
After a few hours , the mechanism attaching the tv camera to the shark ’s fin degrades , and the camera floats to the Earth’s surface where it can be pick up by the research squad . The initial results were exciting .
“ Attaching a camera to a basking shark had never been done before anywhere else in the world . So on the most basic level , we wanted to try it out , and for the first time see the populace from a relish shark perspective , ” Vance said .
“ The video footage itself , however , has allowed us to view never - before seen events such as bask shark interact with one another underwater , spending put out stop cruising on the ocean floor at slow speeds , a breach event from a basking sharks perspective and how a basking shark reacts to portion out the weewee with boats and people , ” she continued .
When studying the video footage from the relish shark get on cameras , Vance and her squad also found something else : themselves !
The team jest about it on Twitter :
@WhySharksMatter@GyrefalconThey would n’t be able-bodied to work a pinhole , but credit rating where credit is due , he ( we intend ) pick out some bully shots .
— Irish Basking Shark ( @BaskingIrish)March 5 , 2015
you may learn more of the footage from the first deployment of animal - turn out television camera on basking sharks here :
BiologyCamerasconservationMarine biologyScienceTechnology
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