The premiere of “Into the Deep with Elephant Seals,” a QUEST TV program, follows UC Santa Cruz marine biologist Dan Costa as he uncovers how northern elephant seals behave at sea. Every winter, the seals migrate to the NRS’s Año Nuevo Island Reserve and adjacent beaches on the San Mateo County shore to breed. Costa and colleagues take advantage of their brief time on land to glue GPS tracking tags and other instruments to the seals’ fur. The resulting information has literally rewritten the book on these athletes of the ocean, which can hold their breath for two hours and dive a mile below the surface.
Watch QUEST TV this Wednesday, May 4 at 7:30 pm on KQED 9 & KQED HD on Comcast 709.
Read more about Dan Costa’s work tracking marine animals with satellite tags.