Thursday, July 17, 2008

#29: Seal Origins

Where do our seals come from?

A lot of people ask us, "how did you get your seals?" This is a great question and allows us to tell the stories and backgrounds of our animals here. Five of the seven harbor seals were born here at the aquarium; Amelia and Trumpet were born in 1985, Reggae and Cayenne in 1993, and Chacoda in 1995. Smoke and Lana came in as stranded pups from the coast of Maine in 1971 and 1982 respectively.

Most seals are nursed back to health and released. Sometimes stranded seals have medical issues, such as chronic ear infections, that would reduce their chance of survival after release. Others become too accustomed to people and can get in trouble by approaching people or their pets.

Three of the fur seals, Cordova, Ursula and Baranov were born at other aquariums. Chainsaw was found stranded as a pup off the coast of Washington.

Follow the links on each seal's name to see all the blog entries about each animal.

-Lindsay

subscribe

Labels: , , ,

posted by NEAQ at 6:49 AM 4 Comments



Tuesday, July 15, 2008

#28: Seal Safety

Swimming With Seals

There is no doubt that marine mammals are adorable. They look so sweet and gentle; you just want to run up and give them a little squeeze. After all, what's the harm in walking up to a seal on the beach, or tossing a fish to a sea lion in the ocean? How about letting the dog play with one of them-they are playful, curious creatures, right? A lot of people are surprised to hear that it is dangerous for us and our pets to approach a wild seal. These animals have very sharp, bacteria covered teeth. Seals will bite if they are frightened, surrounded, cornered or sick. Seals can carry many different diseases such as rabies, that can be transferred to other mammals. More people are shocked when they hear that it is illegal in the US to come within 150 feet of a wild marine mammal, as stated in the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Harassing, feeding, touching, even swimming with wild seals puts THEM in danger. Observing these amazing creatures is an awesome experience, just be sure to do it from a distance.

If you see a seal that is injured or in distress, keep people and dogs away, then call your local aquarium. For more information about seal rescue, check out the Aquarium's Marine Animal Rescue Program.

-Lindsay

subscribe

Labels: , , ,

posted by lindsay at 7:56 AM 3 Comments



Thursday, June 26, 2008

#21: True Seals

What's the difference between a seal and a sea lion?

This is one of the commonly asked questions here at the New England Aquarium and I am here to answer it for all of you who, I know, are just dying to know. And the answer is ... DRUMROLL PLEASE .................. NOTHING!

But my blog cannot and will not end with such a vague answer!

Sea lions are a type of seal that have external ear flaps, can rotate their hind flippers under their bodies and "walk" on land. They use long front flippers for swimming and standing, and have LOTS of blubber (or fat). Fur seals look a lot like sea lions and have almost the same physical characteristics, except they don't have all that blubber to help keep them warm. They have, you guessed it, fur! Both sea lions and fur seals are in the same family and referred to as "eared seals."

You can see the ear flaps and upright posture of Guthrie, a male sea lion:















and Cordova, a female Northern fur seal:
















True seals, sometimes referred to as "earless seals," are in another family. This includes all other seals except sea lions, fur seals, and walrus. True seals don't have external ear flaps, they use their hind flippers for swimming, they have a lot of blubber, and short front flippers so they slug around on land. Chacoda, one of our male Atlantic Harbor Seals, is an example of a true seal:

















When put side by side, you can really see the similarities and differences. Here at the New England Aquarium, we currently have Atlantic harbor seals and Northern fur seals.

subscribe

Labels: , , , ,

posted by NEAQ at 6:01 AM 6 Comments



Tuesday, June 3, 2008

#13: Teeth

Say Ahhhhh

Let's see those pearly whites...or yellows, or blacks! Teeth. That is the word of the day. Here you can see three sets of teeth; Atlantic harbor seal teeth, Lindsay's teeth, and northern fur seal teeth. Can you guess which set of chompers belong to whom?





All seals have teeth, and they all vary from species to species. Humans have 32 teeth, pinnipeds (the scientific name for seals, sea lions and walrus) have an average of 34 to 38 . The seals' teeth are very sharp--even the molars! The reason that the molars aren't flat is because they don't chew their food like we do. They use those pointy teeth to grasp and shred fish that are too big to swallow whole.

Since seals can develop plaque build-up and gum disease just like people, we have trained all the harbor seals, and most of the fur seals, to allow us to brush their teeth. This is a very important husbandry behavior that we maintain every day. Be sure to check back for a blog on that in the near future!

-Lindsay

(p.s. #1 is a harbor seal named Reggae, #2 is a northern fur seal named Ursula and #3 is me!)

subscribe

Labels: , , ,

posted by lindsay at 2:24 PM 3 Comments