Marine mammal trainers measure a healthy female walrus

Indianapolis Zoo marine mammal trainers, Erika Allen and Sydney Pitts, measure a healthy female walrus in support of a USGS study that seeks to develop methods to monitor walrus body condition from survey drones flown high above walruses where they rest on shore. With this new tool, USGS intends to examine the environmental factors that affect walrus body condition in order to better understand how they are responding to the changing arctic ecosystem.