Japan and the United States will jointly research the ecology of the short-tailed albatross, one of three North Pacific species listed as endangered under the World Conservation Union, U.S. environmental officials said Tuesday.
Researchers from the two countries will use satellites and electronic tagging to track the birds' flight patterns and routes as they fly over the Pacific, the officials said.
The Environment Ministry and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an organization under the Interior Department, will work out details of the satellite-tracking project by the end of this month at the earliest, they said.
Under the project, electronic tags for transmitting flight data will be attached to about 10 birds on Torishima Island in the Izu island chain, south of Tokyo.