When I hear that otters spend X percent of their time feeding (or some other behavior), how do scientists know that? Surely they don’t follow otters around to see what they do all day…
As it turns out, that’s exactly what researchers do.
So how do you follow a marine mammal around? What are the tools of the trade? Below I’ve posted what researchers with the Sea Otter Research and Conservation program use to gather data on the otters in Monterey Bay.
The size of the radio transmitter surprised me. But then Gena told me that the female otters can weigh 45-60 pounds and males can weigh up to 100 pounds. That makes the radio transmitter seem pretty small.