Get an Animal's-Eye View Be an Explorer Every Day! Culture Clues Creative Climates Letterboxing: A Geographic Scavenger Hunt Preserving Biodiversity Activity Index

<< A bearded seal pup (Erignathus barbatus) is one of the animals scientists have learned more about through Crittercam research. Courtesy of NOAA/Photograph by Captain Budd Christman

Become an animal researcher! Follow the movements of an animal fitted with a Crittercam and record what happens—where does it go and what does it see?

How can we know what life is like for wildlife like whales and seals? With the Crittercam, we get an animal's-eye view—we see what the animal sees!

National Geographic's Greg Marshall developed the Crittercam when he noticed a remora (a type of parasitic fish) stuck to a shark in a coral reef in Belize in 1986. Marshall envied the remora's firsthand knowledge of shark life. Then he had an idea: why not build a waterproof video camera that could be harmlessly attached to a shark or another animal?

The result was the Crittercam, which has now been used to study many marine animals, including whales, sea turtles, seals—and sharks. The video footage that Crittercam captures gives scientists never-before-seen glimpses into animal behavior, feeding practices, and much more.

You are a scientist on the Crittercam team. Which animal are you tracking today: a leopard seal in the Antarctic, a sperm whale in the deep sea, or a bearded seal in the Arctic?

Follow your animal, noting all the other animals it encounters and the different environments it enters.

Younger Xpeditioners: Using a large piece of paper, draw the animal you "followed" and its environment. Include the water (and/or ice) as well as the other animals you saw.

What other animals would you be interested in following the same way? (Keep in mind that they could be land animals.)

Older Xpeditioners: Your boss wants to know what animal to study next. You have to decide on the animal and sketch a "virtual world" to convince her.

Choose an animal that lives in a different part of the world. For instance, you might put your Crittercam on an orangutan in an Asian rain forest, or on an alligator in the Florida Everglades.

On poster board, draw your habitat, labeling the plants and animals that your animal would see. Make sure to include all the different environments it may need (land, water, ice, etc.). Then show your boss and pack your bags for your next assignment!

Parents: Encourage your children to look at the world through the eyes of the wildlife or pets around them. How would the park seem to a squirrel scurrying on the ground, a sparrow perched on a high branch, or a border collie chasing a ball?

If possible, visit a different habitat type and explore the different environment. Online, explore Wild World: Sights & Sounds, a series of interactive maps that highlight different ecoregions around the globe.

This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0229817.

Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.