The team spent two days photographing the calving ground and gathering data that would be used by conservationists to persuade China to protect the area.
Successful Special Operations require a significant intelligence-gathering apparatus on the ground and close proximity to launch raids with little warning time.
There are about 1, 400 special operations forces and Marines who've been operating out of Djibouti who have been in Ethiopia, training Ethiopian troops, and who have been on the ground, actually, in Somalia gathering intelligence.