El Hierro is a spectacular place to film and photograph. It is a rugged landscape and has spectacular marine life. I first visited El Hierro on the Voyage of the Odyssey expedition in early 2005.
It is a very special place for beaked whales. Deep canyons are very close to land. So, Natacha uses a land-based crew to search for beaked whales using “big-eye” binoculars high above on the cliffs. Mark, the inventor of the DTAG – a revolutionary device that can track the movements of animals and record their vocalizations – spoke to me in depth about the design and functionality of the tag. It is changing the way scientists study marine mammals. It was an incredible experience listening to Mark share his technical knowledge and insights into how and why he designed it.
Here is the synopsis of the video program:
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Beaked whales are the most mysterious of all marine mammals. So far, there are about 20 species known around the world. They inhabit deep, pelagic waters spending very little time at the surface.
As a consequence, scientists are developing technologies to learn more about these elusive toothed whales. Mark Johnson has designed a non-invasive way to study them using a device called the DTAG.
We join Mark, Natacha Aguilar de Soto and their team on El Hierro in the Canary Islands, Spain, as they search for beaked whales to study their movements, habitat use and vocalizations.
For more information go to:
Diving with Beaked Whales – Whale Trackers
i have two binoculars at home and both of them are Bushnell brand, it is a really good brand’-;