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A multi-platform ultrasonic event recorder for towing and stationed monitoring of cetaceans was developed. A stereo acoustic event recorder (A-tag) was originally developed to observe biosonar behavior by tagging on dolphins and porpoises in the wild. In recent years, A-tag has been applied for the acoustic transect to count the number of dolphins and porpoises, and for the long term stationed observation.

Underwater ultrasonic sound of finless porpoises Neophocaena phocaenoides were monitored concurrent with visual observations in the Yangtze River, China. In a total of 774 km cruise, 588 finless porpoises were sighted by visual observation and 44,864 ultrasonic pulses were recorded. The acoustic monitoring system could detect presence of the finless porpoises 82% of the time. False alarm in the system occurred with a frequency of 0.9%. The high frequency acoustical observation is suggested as an effective method for field surveys of small cetaceans, which produce high frequency sonar signals.

Cetacean's sonar is an appropriate model of underwater acoustical sensing technology. Sonar behavior of three free-ranging finless porpoises in an oxbow of the Yangtze River was observed by microdata logger systems attached on the animals. Newly developed acoustic data logger could record porpoise's sonar pulse events 1000 times every second with the amplitude information. Close correlation between sonar effort and behavioral context could be observed. Frequent use of sonar with various inter-pulse intervals was recorded during quick body movements characterized by spiky change of heaving acceleration. The inter-pulse intervals were precisely controlled to adjust the distance to a remote target, which was similar to the terminal phase in bat's sonar behavior

Chinese river dolphin (Lipotes vexillifer), usually called 'baiji', is one of the most endangered mammals in the world. The preservation of these mammals directly ensures the health of the ecosystem. However, not much behavioral information on baiji is available so far, that could effectively assist in undertaking their preservation. This research is an attempt to reveal baiji's hitherto unknown underwater dynamic behavior. For this work we have analyzed and extracted motion parameters from clicks of a free-swimming baiji recorded in 1996 at a single hydrophone. The absence of detailed bottom information made it difficult to localize baiji using the multiple reflections and forced us to rely completely on surface reflections only. From measurements of time delay between the direct path and the surface echo, not only large-scale behavior but also fine-scale behavior has been revealed, such as: periods of diving and surfacing, circling behavior underwater and a characteristic nodding motion. These studies have contributed towards a broad understanding of baiji's foraging exercises from the standpoint of formulating an acoustical survey for the search for this endangered marine mammal.