In Australia, sea lions work as underwater cameramen to help scientists learn more about the animals’ habitat on the sea floor.

The researchers used the endangered Australian sea lions to identify their previously unmapped marine habitats.

“Using video and movement data of animals by predators is a really effective way to map different habitats across large areas of the seafloor,” said author Nathan Angelakis, a PhD student at the University of Adelaide and the South Australian Research and Development Institute.

The scientists published their results in the scientific journal Frontiers.

Small, lightweight cameras were glued to the fur of eight adult female sea lions.

The filming and tracking equipment weighed less than 1% of the sea lions’ body weight to prevent drag effects and allow the animals unrestricted freedom of movement.

The recordings took place over two to three days.

“We deployed the instruments on adult females so that we could collect the equipment a few days later when they returned to land to nurse their young,” Angelakis explained.

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Using 89 hours of sea lion recordings, the researchers identified six seabed habitats covering 5,000 square kilometers of seabed in southern Australia.

The researchers then used AI models to predict large areas of habitat on the continental shelf of southern Australia, using both the data collected from the sea lions and additional data collected over a 21-year period.

According to the study, which aims to aid efforts to protect this endangered species, the population of Australian sea lions has declined by more than 60 percent in the last 40 years.