After scientists put solar-powered tracking devices onto albatrosses, the world’s largest seabirds were given the tools they needed to become undercover spies. Albatrosses are well-known for being able to spend years at a time flying over the ocean looking for food. Fish often attract the birds to fishing boats, but albatrosses can easily become trapped in the fishing lines. Also, overfishing by humans makes it harder for albatrosses to find the food that they need. However, during an experiment that turned albatrosses into spies, when the they flew over the illegal fishing boats, their trackers captured both long distance and short distance radar signal coming from the boats. Researchers analyzed the data, and out of the 353 boats that the albatrosses located, researched believe that almost of third of them were doing something illegal.
