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Mystery of the USB stick found in frozen seal poo

Scientists in New Zealand have put out a public appeal following the discovery of a USB memory stick containing holiday photos inside a frozen slab of seal poo.

The scat, valuable for studying the health of leopard seals, had been stored in a freezer for a year before it was thawed out for analysis, the researchers said.

“Concealed deep inside the scat was a USB stick,” New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research said on its website.

The stick was in good condition, “considering where it had come from”, and the researchers let it dry out for a few weeks.

They have now released some of the footage on the USB, and are appealing for anyone who recognises it to get in touch.

Scat from the Antarctic predators is so valuable to scientific research that NIWA marine biologist Dr Krista Hupman and the team at LeopardSeals.org run a network of volunteer collectors up and down New Zealand who gather the evidence and send it to her for analysis.

The sample containing the USB was picked up by a vet who checked on the health of a skinny leopard seal resting on a beach in Invercargill, in New Zealand’s deep south.

It was picked up in November 2017 and sent to Dr Hupman, who popped it in the freezer, where it remained until three weeks ago.

The decidedly unglamorous job of defrosting the sample fell to volunteers Jodie Warren and Melanie Magnan.

“Then we basically have to sift it. You put it under the cold tap, get all the gross stuff off, smoosh it around a bit and separate the bones, feathers, seaweed and other stuff,” Ms Warren said.

Deep inside was the USB stick, which contained photos of sealions at Porpoise Bay, on New Zealand’s South Island, and a video of a mother sealion and her baby frolicking in shallow waters.

“The only clue to who might have taken them is the nose of a blue kayak,” NIWA said, adding that the return of the USB stick comes with a price.

“The leopard seal researchers would like some more leopard seal scat please.”

Ms Warren said it was worrying that Antarctic animals would have ingested plastic such as a USB stick. Any information from the stick’s original owner would be valuable to the leopard seal study.

“The more we can find out about these creatures, the more we can ensure they are looked after,” she said.

-with AAP

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