Melinda Fowler, at UCSC's Long Marine Lab -- May has been an intense month. We just deployed our 20th satellite tag this week. All our tags were deployed on adult female elephant seals.

These seals will carry their tags until they return in late December to early January to give birth to their pups. In the meantime, their tags will transmit their positions daily and their time-depth recorders will record their diving patterns.

It's a lot of work to put out 20 tags and we are happy to have it done. Now we will take a rest and regroup and keep an eye on where our seals are swimming until they return.

(photo by Jerome Fiechter)