Roxanne Beltran developed an infatuation with the ocean as a young girl and she is now a marine biologist and elephant seal expert. She hopes her research will help us better understand the strategies that seals use to survive and thrive in the open ocean; specifically, how their behavior and survival may be impacted by our changing planet. She is particularly interested in elephant seal pups, which begin their first migration at just three months old without any parental instruction. Despite having the farthest independent migration of any terrestrial or marine mammal, it remains a mystery how the pups find their way (and their return home) in a seemingly featureless ocean without a compass, map, or group travel.

Join Roxanne in this live interactive event to hear how she is deploying trackers to learn how elephant seal pups navigate and dive during their first ocean expedition. This event is recommended for middle school students. It includes a presentation and a live Q&A.

#ExplorerClassroom is for everyone! All events are free.

There are two ways to participate in the virtual event, as a featured class on screen or watching live on YouTube. If space is available, you may request to be a featured class during the registration process.