Environment

Seals Are Drawn to Offshore Wind Farms

Some swim around the turbines in a grid fashion, probably hunting for prey.
A harbor seal involved in the study wears a GPS beacon.Current Biology/Russell et al.

The action at offshore wind farms seems to be happening above the waves, with those giant, spinning turbine blades. But there's something interesting going on below, too. Some seals flock from miles around to swim among the turbines' support structures, tracking from one to the other as if completing a grid.

The magnetism of wind farms to marine life is the subject of a study published today in Current Biology describing underwater activity at the U.K.'s Sheringham Shoal, shown here: