By: Wesley Zhao

We’ve already mapped out most of the land on Earth, but we have just started to uncover the ocean. Sea lions are helping oceanographers by having underwater cameras to map out the ocean.

“For most of the ocean, we don’t know what the bottom looks like,” said Nathan Angelakis, a Ph.D. student at the South Australian Research and Development Institute (Aquatic Sciences) at the University of Adelaide. (New York Times,2024)

But before exploring, Angelakis called in some helpers named Daphne, Phoebe, Iris, and Pasithea. These four, along with several others, had underwater video cameras and dove to the unseen parts off Australia’s southern coast. Their footage contains meadows of leafy seaweeds and craggy rocks covered with coral. They even saw a sea lion teaching her pup how to hunt.

The four helpers could easily get there because they were sea lions. Mr. Angelakis and his colleagues hope that the sea lions’ swims will help scientists develop a better view about how sea lions use different habitat spaces, and how humans can take care of them. The sea lions in Australia are also endangered.

Scientists used to map parts of the sea by using operated vehicles and cameras towed by underwater vehicles. But it can be very costly and hard to operate. Angelakis decided to find an easier way to capture footage from 300 feet beneath the surface.

After the scientists watched the recordings, they saw the first direct evidence that they’ve collected from Australian sea lion mothers teaching skills to their pups.

They also got to see the surface temperature and used a machine to predict the likely habitats lurking beneath the surface of unexplored parts of the surrounding ocean.

These inventions change the world and make it so that we can see what we have never seen before. They push the limits of technology and lead to better and more advanced inventions.