Elephant seals are being used as nature's artificial intelligence to monitor the health of the oceans -- especially the little-known "twilight zone," an ecosystem abundant with fish that could soon be targeted by commercial fisheries, researchers told ABC News.

Marine biologists at the University of California Santa Cruz have tagged thousands of northern elephant seals with smart sensors that can measure anything from physical environmental characteristics -- like temperature of air or water -- the salinity of the ocean, location and how deep the seals are diving, according to a paper published in Science on Thursday.

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