Marine biologist Dr Regina Eisert's work is helping uncover the unknown journeys of killer whales, or orca, from Antartica, to Northland, New Zealand, a near 5000 kilometre trip they make in a just a few weeks. Dr Eisert led a team to Scott Base earlier this year as part of a large research programme on the Ross Sea ecosystem. Part of this research looked into the fishing of toothfish, and the flow-on effects of that on the mammals that feed on them, including Type C killer whales - also known as `Charlies'. For the first time in NZ academic history, Dr Eisert started documenting and photographing killer whales, and discovered they don't just stay in the Ross Sea to hunt toothfish.
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