Sea lions carry cameras to help scientists map ocean floor for first time

Sea lions have become underwater camera operators in Australia to help scientists learn more about the animals' homes at the bottom of the ocean.

Researchers enlisted endangered Australian sea lions to help identify their previously unmapped ocean habitats.

"Using animal-borne video and movement data from a predator is a really effective way of mapping diverse habitats across large areas of the seabed," said author Nathan Angelakis, a PhD student with the University of Adelaide and the South Australian Research and Development Institute.

The scientists published their findings in Frontiers science journal.

Eight adult female sea lions had small, lightweight cameras glued to their fur.

The filming and tracking equipment weighed less than 1% of the sea lions' body weight to prevent dragging effects and allow the animals to move without restrictions.

The recordings were made over two to three days.

"We deployed the instruments on adult females so we could recover the equipment a few days later when they returned to land to nurse their pups," Mr Angelakis explained.

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Using 89 hours of recordings taken by the sea lions, the researchers identified six seabed habitats covering 5,000 square km of seabed in southern Australia.

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The researchers then used AI models to predict large habitat areas across the continental shelf of southern Australia, using both the data collected by the sea lions and other data collected over 21 years.

According to the study, which will help conservation efforts for this endangered species, the population of Australian sea lions has declined by more than 60% over the past 40 years.