Today@Dal

A Sea to Sea Production for CBC Nature of Things, with the participation of Canada Media Fund, and the support of the Nova Scotia Production Incentive.

Sable Island, NS, is home to the largest breeding colony of grey seals in the world. This documentary follows the life of seals on the island and the work of scientists from Dalhousie University and Fisheries and Oceans Canada who have been studying them for over 40 years. The focus of the film is on the success of using animal-borne cameras to record the behaviour of seals underwater. This approach to studying seals has great value for identifying what seals are foraging on and where they do it. Until now, video cameras have been too large and with insufficient battery life to be of value in scientific wildlife studies. In the documentary, researchers Nell den Heyer (DFO, Maritimes) and Damian Lidgard (Dalhousie University; DFO, Maritimes) deploy animal-borne cameras on two adult female grey seals and successfully retrieve the cameras after the seals spent ~ 2 months out at sea. The footage that is returned reveals the hidden behaviour of grey seals while at sea.​

Friday, Dec. 13, 9 p.m.