• Mark Hindell / Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC via Reuters

    A Southern Ocean elephant seal wears a sensor on its head as it sleeps on an island in the Southern Ocean, Antarctica.
    EDITOR'S NOTE: Photo taken on Feb. 27, 2012 and made available to NBC News today.

    Seals wearing high-tech headgear take scientists to depths of Antarctic Ocean

    Reuters reports — Elephant seals wearing head sensors and swimming deep beneath Antarctic ice have helped scientists better understand how the ocean's coldest, deepest waters are formed, providing vital clues to understanding its role in the world's climate.

    Twenty of the seals were deployed from Davis Station in east Antarctica in 2011 with a sensor, weighing less than 7 ounces, on their head.

    "The seals went to an area of the coastline that no ship was ever going to get to," said Guy Williams, ACE CRC Sea Ice specialist and co-author of the study. Read the full story.

  • Abandoned albino seal is now star of Russian aquarium

    sochi.delfinary.com

    By Mish Whalen

    December 7, 2011 update: We are happy to report that an albino seal who was abandoned by his family back in September has been brought to a Russian aquarium, where he is now happily thriving in an enclosure made just for him. The seal has been named Nafanya, after a Soviet-era cartoon character.

    sochi.delfinary.com

    "She has a good appetite, and always seems in a happy mood. She is such an unusual seal with very beautiful bright blue eyes," Yulia Frolova, who heads the dolphinarium, told the Daily Mail.

    sochi.delfinary.com

    The albino seal pup with rare reddish-brown fur was spotted in August under some logs on a Russian beach by photographer Anatoly Strakhov. The little guy had been rejected by his family and left to fend for himself, according to Caters News Agency.

    Anatoly Strakhov/Caters News Agency

    "He was hiding and waiting for his mother to come and feed him," Strakhov told the Daily Mail. "I was pleased to be able to capture such an unusual animal, but the poor seal is almost blind and so was unlikely to survive in the wild."

    Anatoly Strakhov/Caters News Agency

    Fortunately, as these photos from September show, Nafanya is safe and sound. The dolphinarium has a Web page devoted to him and you can watch a webcam of Nafanya being fed and blissfully swimming around. (Note that according to the website, the webcam is on only between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Moscow time; that's 8 p.m.-2 a.m. Eastern time.)

    sochi.delfinary.com