The beauty of diaries is their complexity and doggedness. They record all this information without political bias or fatigue, irrespective of whether their wearers are flying in the cold thin air high up in the Andes, cruising the black depths of the ocean one kilometer underwater off the Azores, or snuggled up tight in some warm burrow meters underground.

The obvious advantage is that the diary can be with animals when we cannot and thus, when we recover them, they can tell us the things, extraordinary things, that go on in animal lives to which we may not be privy. This is particularly important when it comes to animal conservation. Let’s face it, if we want to conserve an imperiled species we do need to find out what it needs and what it’s not getting.