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Tagged for Tracking
Scientists on a mission visited Laguna San Ignacio in March. They attached satellite dart tags on 19 adult gray whales. Why? They want to monitor the whales' fine scale migration route through the coastal waters off Baja California. Each tag was deployed on the dorsal ridge of the adult gray whale. The dart fell off and left the tag. This whale likely weighs about 40,000 kg (44 tons), which is almost a million times the mass of the 49-gram tag.  Now those whales are migrating north and you can follow them!

Track the whales' movements here.

Courtesy of NOAA, NMFS, SWFSC

Satellite tag being deployed onto a gray whale

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