May 10, 1995 Contact: Chris Woolston or Robert Irion (408/459-2495)

UC SANTA CRUZ RESEARCHER TO DISCUSS HOW PENGUINS AND SEALS MAKE A LIVING

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA--Balancing the demands of work and family is always a struggle, even for seals and penguins. Daniel Costa, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, will examine some of these marine family values in a free public lecture at 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 7, in the UCSC Concert Hall.

Costa's talk is entitled "Penguins, Seals, Sea Lions, and Fur Seals: How to Make a Living When You Feed at Sea but Return to Shore to Breed." Encompassing fifteen years of research, the talk will highlight the different strategies that birds and mammals have adopted to feed at sea.

Fur seals and penguins, Costa has discovered, are remarkably similar in the way they gather food and nurture their young. Both make many foraging trips to sea, and both invest heavily in big, fat babies. "That's what's interesting about penguins and fur seals," says Costa, a professor of biology. "They're very evolutionarily distinct animals, but they had to solve the same problem."

"True" seals, such as harbor seals and northern elephant seals, found a different solution, one appropriate for their large body size. Instead of nursing pups to the size of adults, they wean pups at a young age and teach them to forage.

Costa has traveled the world to study his animals: fairy penguins in Australia, fur seals in Alaska, emperor penguins in Antarctica. To complete the picture, he even looks at ancient seals from the fossil record. "I like broad brush strokes," Costa says. "I try to tease apart a broad question by comparing different animal groups."

Because he studies marine mammals for the Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate (ATOC) project, a controversial proposal to send underwater sounds across the Pacific, Costa also has spent many hours lately talking to reporters. "I really don't mind the media," he says. "It's important to let people know what you do and why you do it."

Costa's talk is part of a series of inaugural lectures designed to recognize recently promoted faculty members. The talk is cosponsored by Arts & Lectures, the UCSC Affiliates, and the Chancellor's Office. For further information, call the UCSC Public Information Office at 459-2495.

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