Marine Mammal Trainers

#148: A formal introduction to Isaac the Northern fur seal

2009-11-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

It is high time we officially introduce you to our youngest male Northern fur seal, Isaac. Isaac is 9 years old and currently weighs in at just over 200 pounds, though we expect him to nearly double in size in the next few years.

Isaac was born at the Seattle Aquarium and is named after Chris Isaak, who happened to be playing nearby at the time. When he moved out here, he traveled with a trainer by FedEx (we still have the packing slip!).

During the last few months, we have been working with Isaac to fine-tune some of his behaviors, including his head shake (so you can see his handsome hair), vocal (it sounds like a purr), and open mouth. He is doing great!

-Erin

#147: Yoga with the fur seals on the news

2009-11-16T18:17:00.006-05:00

Did you know that to stay healthy, a lot of people are doing some of the same behaviors that our fur seals do? That's right. Stop in to any local yoga studio and you will see people doing poses that look a lot like what Cordova and Ursula do on a daily basis.

Trainer Lindsay and Ursula the Northern fur seal show kids how to stretch.

The marine mammal staff has paired with Abbie Davies, founder and owner of My First Yoga, to show that everyone does the same things to stay healthy. Just check out this story that recently aired on NECN to learn a little more, then come on in and join us during one of our Fitness Friday presentations.

-Erin

#146: Learn a new fur seal behavior - What's a Whicker?

2009-10-23T14:00:00.003-04:00

Male fur seals make a sound referred to as a "whicker." It is difficult to describe and can vary between a breathy, clicking sound to more distinct clicks. Males tend to whicker when defending territory or when courting female fur seals during breeding season.

Baranov

Listen closely during the video and you can hear Baranov whickering. It seemed he was responding to a sound made by one of the other seals. He whickered on and off for several minutes this morning before falling back to sleep.

~ Jenny

#145: Good Morning JD

2009-10-14T08:30:00.001-04:00

This is JD shortly after waking up one morning. She rested most of the night on deck and you can see how dry and furry she really is.

-Rochelle

#144: Jenny answers marine mammal training questions in The Boston Globe

2009-10-09T10:27:00.004-04:00

If you're a marine mammal fan, today is a good day to pick up The Boston Globe. The Aquarium's own Jenny Montague is featured in the G-Force interview section. She's already written about how she got her start training marine mammals for this blog, but this interview has some new insights, such as who's Jenny's favorite seal to work with right now and a sneak preview of Jenny's upcoming Aquarium lecture. It's free and open to the public, but you better register here before it fills up!

#143: Baranov the Northern fur seal moves into his new home

2009-10-02T16:44:00.001-04:00

Baranov is back! Last time he was at the Aquarium, he enjoyed doing his impression of a fur seal monorail on the previous exhibit's bridge. Now he's back and he has a much larger, brand new space to explore in the New Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center.

Baranov arriving at the New Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center (left) and in his previous home at the Mystic Aquarium (right).

So how do you transport a Northern fur seal that weighs between 400 and 500 pounds? A simple dolly isn't enough... the team used a forklift. Here's a photo slide show of the move. Press play to get it started!

#142: Fur Seal Over Ice on The Boston Globe's front page

2009-08-19T09:20:00.002-04:00

If you've seen the front page of The Boston Globe today, you've seen Ursula, a Northern fur seal, relaxing on 300 pounds of ice. While her exhibit at the aquarium is a pleasant 58 degrees F, Ursula still enjoys this cool spot.

Photo by David Ryan/Globe Staff

Northern fur seals are found throughout the Pacific Rim from Japan to California and are comfortable in a wide range of temperatures. The ice blocks were brought to the exhibit by the Aquarium's Director of Communications, Tony LaCasse. He thought the fur seals would have fun with ice blocks on a hot and humid day. He picked up 900 pounds of ice and schlepped it to the aquarium in his Toyota Matrix. Clearly, Ursula is now Tony's biggest fan!

- Jenny

#141: Seal of the week: Reggae

2009-08-17T09:00:00.000-04:00

It has been a while since our seal of the week blog. The arrival of our fur seals and the opening of the New Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center has certainly kept us busy. So, sorry for the delay and on we go with our Seal Of The Week! This week we are going to highlight Reggae.

Reggae is a male Atlantic harbor seal born at the New England Aquarium on May 30, 1993. He is the son of Smoke and the brother of Amelia. Just like Smoke, Reggae has no spots on his belly. He also happens to be the largest of our seals. His maximum weight is 230 lbs!

Reggae knows a lot of different behaviors. One of the newest is a high five that Lindsay posted last week. Check it out! He also recently had an x-ray done of his teeth. Through training, Reggae learned to hold a small x-ray plate in his mouth while on his back. He had to hold completely still with the hand held x-ray machine against his chin. Stay tuned for a video blog showing how great Reggae was during the procedure.

In addition to doing x-rays of his teeth, we also brush Reggae's teeth on a regular basis. Unlike humans, seals have no molars for chewing. Reggae uses his sharp teeth to grip onto the fish that we feed him and then he swallows it down whole. His birthday blog shows what that looks like. We want to make sure that those teeth stay in tip top shape. Here is a picture of Reggae having his teeth brushed.

We are always working on new things with Reggae so every session is different. We feed Reggae and his exhibit mates four times a day so come check it out!

~Patty

subscribe

#140: Harbor Seal HIGH FIVE!

2009-08-04T11:00:00.001-04:00

This was my first behavior I trained with Reggae from start to finish. I actually trained it twice; the first time I did it, I didn't notice how much his flipper was curling in when he hit my hand-that hurts! So I backed up a few steps and fixed that flipper flat.

It was a cool learning experience to know that you can go back to tweak an already trained behavior. What a smart seal!

-Lindsay

#139: The Art of Jug Handling

2009-07-31T08:45:00.000-04:00

This is a really cool video of Isaac, our 9-year-old male Northern fur seal, jug handling. Check out Patty's previous post here, for information on why they hang around in this neat position. It's hard to tell where each flipper is when he is already in position, but keep watching as he unfolds and folds his flippers back into place.

Isaac shows us how this resting behavior looks from start to finish-almost in slow motion!

-Lindsay

#138: Ursula the Sliding Fur Seal

2009-07-30T10:30:00.000-04:00

Ursula the Northern fur seal likes to slide on the ramp down to the holding room pool! She will slide during, after and in between training sessions.

Looks like fun to me! Check out he video:

-Lindsay

#137: Harbor Seal Happy Dance!

2009-07-29T08:50:00.001-04:00

Our Harbor Seals are excellent at many fun, energetic behaviors and Amelia is one of the best at dancing. She learned this behavior through targeting, which is one of the first steps to training the majority of the behaviors she knows. We started by asking her to touch--or target--one flipper to our hand and then used the other hand for the other flipper. We then increased the amount of times she touched flippers to hands. Over time we were able to back away from touching the flipper and then increase her distance from us in the water. This is a short explanation but the finished product is fun to see.

Here is a view of Amelia from the front of the exhibit. She learned the dance behavior many years ago and it just shows how practice makes perfect.

~Rochelle

#136: Chuck the flying harbor seal

2009-07-21T16:20:00.001-04:00

Porpoising is one of the many impressive behaviors that harbor seals do naturally. By leaping out of the water, they are able to take a quick breath of air and a look around when either playing or trying to get out of harm's way.

Many of our seals have been trained to do this behavior on signal - it's a great way for us to show off a cool natural behavior while keeping the seals active. Check out this video of Chuck:

-Erin

#135: Why are the seals on the rocks?

2009-07-20T11:30:00.000-04:00

If you have walked by the Atlantic Harbor Seal exhibit recently, you may have seen something that only happens during this time of year. Our harbor seals are molting! Molting is a process where a seal sheds its old coat of hair as a brand new beautiful coat grows in. For much of the two to three weeks it takes to molt, our seals spend a lot of time hauled out on the rocks. It may look like they are just taking advantage of the beautiful summer weather, but staying out on the rocks serves a really important purpose.

This gives them the opportunity to rest and conserve energy as their bodies go through the molting process. During the molting season, which begins in early July and ends in early August, there are days when you may find all seven seals taking a snooze during the day. As the new hair grows in, their skin can be more sensitive, so we give the seals Vitamin E until their new coats are complete. Check out the picture above. How many seals can you find hauled out on the rocks?

Trumpet

Amelia

Today I took a few pictures of the seals that are right in the middle of their molts. If you look closely, you can see the color changes, especially on Amelia. The darker patches on her back show off her beautiful, silvery colored new hair. The rest of her body is still covered with her older hair, which has now taken on a yellow tint. The hair even feels different. The old hair has a rough feel to it, while the new hair feels very soft. Stay tuned for some more pictures as they continue to grow in their new coats!

~Patty

#134: The fur seals' new home opens today!

2009-07-01T08:42:00.007-04:00

Today the Aquarium's brand new New Balance Marine Mammal Center opens to the public! The seals are doing great in their new space and it will be fun to see their reaction to visitors coming to see them. Cordova, in particular, likes to follow people as they walk past the shallow wading pool. Here are some photos of the new space:

The new center has been getting a lot of attention in the press. The seals have been spreading the word all over TV and radio. We already posted a great video from NECN. Here's a clip from WBZ.com's Radiovision. This photo of Justin was in the Metro yesterday.

Plus, this story about the New Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center's fitness mission and the Move It! theme program appeared in the Associated Press and was picked up in many other sources. Come on down to the Aquarium and see the seals in their new space!

Here's a photo slide show of the new space!

#133: Testing the Waters!

2009-06-24T13:06:00.007-04:00

Yesterday Cordova and Ursula and J.D. arrived at the New Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center! They'll acclimate to the new environment before the exhibit opens to the public on July 1.

Photo from the Boston Herald.

The arrival was a quite a news event. There was a photographer there from the Boston Herald and a news crew from NECN. Here's the story they put on the air. Just hit play and wait for the ad to finish to see the fur seals' new home!

#132: Safety First

2009-06-22T10:30:00.001-04:00

We have been extremely busy preparing the New Balance Marine Mammal Center for the arrival of the fur seals. Our design and construction team has been putting the finishing touches on the exhibit and we have been making sure that everything is ship shape. This includes diving in the new exhibit to scrub algae off the walls and vacuum up debris. Since it is still considered a construction site, we must wear the proper safety gear. Wearing the hard hat and day-glo vest was a bit awkward over my dive gear, but I think it really added something to the outfit.

Don't you think?

- Justin

#131: The Wait Is Almost Over...

2009-06-19T08:30:00.001-04:00

Ten months ago, we announced that our female fur seals would be moving to the New York Aquarium while we started building the New Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center. The wait is almost over, so while Rochelle is in New York learning all about JD, she is also getting a chance to see Ursula and Cordova.

I went down this past weekend and snapped this picture of the two fur girls during a training session (Ursula is on the left and Cordova is on the right with Rochelle). They are both doing great and we are even more excited for the opening of the exhibit on July 1st. And for those of you that had visited these girls, have no fear, Cordova is still as vocal as ever!

-Erin

#130: Get Ready For JD!

2009-06-18T11:20:00.000-04:00

With the opening of the New Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center fast approaching I wanted to give everyone a quick introduction to one of our soon to be newest residents. JD - short for 'Jimmy's Daughter'- is a 19 year old female Northern Fur Seal. She will be coming to us from New York Aquarium and joining Ursula and Cordova in our exhibit to start. She has a vast knowledge of behaviors and is keeping me on my toes in hopes of learning all of them before the big move. Be on the lookout for the newest female in the group when we open in July.

-Rochelle

#129: Harbor Seal Puzzle

2009-06-17T09:00:00.000-04:00

Amelia has always shown a lot of interest in a particular orange boomer ball toy that we stuff with fish. Now we have decided to take it one step further by making a puzzle for her. So she can learn how it works we started with an easy one.

We modified two clear, small animal exercise balls by drilling holes in them, then placed some capelin pieces in the big ball and gave it to the seals. Since it looked a little different from the original toy, it took Amelia a little bit to figure out what it was, but once she did she was really into it. And she wasn't the only one; Trumpet, Chuck, Cayenne, and Smoke all took turns. Now the next step is to start placing the fish inside the little ball and put that inside the big ball- then they will really have to move the toy to get the fish out.

-Erin

#128: Smoke Rorschach Test

2009-06-16T15:20:00.000-04:00

The harbor seals are approaching the molting season when they will all get new coats of hair. At this time of year, many of the seals start to get a small accumulation of algae growing on their old coats. Our oldest seal Smoke tends to move a little slower than the other seals that live at the Aquarium, and it seems like algae tends to stick to her a bit more ... especially on her head.

To me the algae on her head looks like a bird. What do you think it looks like?

In July Smoke will molt and look good as new. Click here to see what Smoke looked like last year mid-molt. Here's what she looked like when she finished her molt last August. What a difference!

-Justin

#127: What's Black and Grey and Read All Over?

2009-06-15T10:00:00.003-04:00

Photo: Nicolaus Czarnecki/METRO

Smoke made the paper the other day! Her picture was featured in Boston's Metro newspaper in an article discussing affordable family outings. Click here for the article. What the Metro forgot to mention is that the Aquarium's harbor seal exhibit is FREE to the public. Talk about a bargain! Stop by the next time you're in the downtown area.

-Justin

#126: I'm Ready For My Close-Up!

2009-06-11T08:45:00.004-04:00

With a face like this to greet you, how could you not enjoy going to work! I was playing around with the camera and Cayenne came over to check me out. I wonder what she was thinking then?

-Erin

#125: Waiting for Baranov ...

2009-06-10T13:15:00.001-04:00

Erin checking out Baranov's chompers

The wait is almost over. We're all looking forward to the return of our fur seals and the opening of the New Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center. The other day Erin and I took a trip down to the Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration to reconnect with our old buddy Baranov, a male fur seal that stayed with us for a few months last year. He will be moving back to Beantown later this summer to live in our new exhibit. Seeing him again made me even more excited ... I can't wait 'til July!

-Justin

#124: Froggy Wanna Fly?

2009-06-09T09:45:00.003-04:00

No, this little guy hasn't sprouted wings; I'm referring to his diet of fruit flies. Dart frogs are carnivores, eating mainly small insects. In the video, a curved-tip syringe delivers a few flies at a time. Since he was eating well from the syringe, I tried to use it as a target to move him around his habitat. The plan was to lead him into a small container or my hand for a better look at him by visitors, biologists or vets.

Alas, unless food was marching from the syringe, he ignored it and occasionally startled if he didn't realize it was next to him. One day while pondering our lack of progress, I watched him eat some fruit flies that wandered around his habitat. As soon as a fly moved, it caught the frog's attention and he locked in. Aha! Perhaps moving or gently shaking the target would be the key.

This video shows the shift from statuesque to frequent following frog:

~ Jenny