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Wildlife conservation is endlessly complex, and it requires a deep understanding of animal behavior.
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Monitoring the movements and migration of species is critical science, and new technology is making the tracking process safer, more efficient and more accurate all the time.
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Today I'm meeting up with Doctor Chris Lowe from California State University, Long Beach.
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He heads up a research unit called the Shark Lab.
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They're going to take me out on the water today, we're going to tag sharks and they'll teach me all about their data collection.
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Can't wait.
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The Shark Lab has been a pioneer in shark tacking technology for more than 40 years.
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And in 1979, Mutual of Omaha's Marlin Perkins was along for the ride to help deploy some of the first ever shark tracking devices.
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The transmitter is inserted inside a parrotfish, which a shark will swallow.
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Although revolutionary at the time, the first tracking devices were large, had limited range, and only lasted a few days.
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Things are much different today.
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I'm with the director of the Shark Club, Doctor Chris Lowe and his team of research students from California State University, Long Beach with a nice send off from harbor Pelicans.
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We traveled south of Santa Barbara to a white shark hotspot location known as Pedaro Beach.
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We have some of your team members on this boat and what is the goal for today?
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So the goal for us today is to continue doing what we've been doing for the last six years and that is tag more sharks so we can monitor their behavior.
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So this is one of our acoustic transmitters.
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Each transmitter has a unique ID, so as the shark is moving through the water, we not only know where it is in proximity to a receiver, but we know the depth that it's at.
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And then this is the dart.
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This gets darted into the shark's back, and sharks have very tough skin, so this isn't painful or traumatic for them.
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Think about getting your ears pierced.
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I've done that.
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We we think it's very analogous to that.
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You'll get a little flinch.
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And then after that, our biggest challenge is not tagging the same shark twice.
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Doctor Lowe utilizes a network of 120 acoustic receivers scattered along California's coast.
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These receivers listen for signals from shark transmitters and relay scientists real time data about shark behavior.
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I have a job for you today.
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Oh, yeah? You're going to be our underwater camera person who's going to help us determine whether they're males or females.
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And the way we do this is we have a camera on the end of a pole and you're going to dip that underneath so we can see the under part of the shark.
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I understand my assignment.
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I want to see how it's done.
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All right, let's do it.
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We're using a drone piloted by Chris's student Patrick to help us locate juvenile great whites in the shallow water.
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All right.
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It's a little deep right there.
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Can you see it?
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And we're coming up on.
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Oh, I see.
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It's got a tag in it.
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It's got a tag.
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This shark is already tagged, so it's the perfect opportunity for me to try my skill with the camera.
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Get a little closer, almost aim, like, for its pec fins or belly, and then when it spins, it'll like swim over the camera.
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You are you're magic.
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There you go.
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You got it.
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She got it on her first time.
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Did I get it?
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Oh, absolutely.
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That was a big shark.
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That's a baby.
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That's a baby.
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That's a toddler.
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So I have to ask the shark.
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I saw it and I saw it's tag in its dorsal fin.
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Is that your tag?
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Yes.
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So we just happened to find a shark that you've met before.
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Wow.
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The search is on for an untagged juvenile.
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And here comes one now.
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Oh, yeah.
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Ok, that's definitely workable.
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All right, perfect.
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It's coming up.
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Get ready a little bit more.
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A little bit more.
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Go, go, go, go.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Go, go.
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Yeah.
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Ok, we got a female. Nice job with the dip can.
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You crushed it.
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It was not easy.
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But you are coaching me.
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You are an awesome dip cam coach.
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Now that this great white shark has been identified, it's up to Chris to deploy the tracking tag.
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Yeah, right in the glare.
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Oh, go, go, go.
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Whoa, oh, you got it. Tag away, tag away.
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Heck yeah.
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Good. Chris and our animal tagging adventure is just getting started.
