1/15/10

# 156: Got squid?

Ursula, a Northern fur seal, is always up to something. Here she is stretching on a Fitness Friday, a great start to any New Year's resolution.


Ursula stretching with her trainer on Fitness Friday. (Photo: Ann Cortissoz)

Her latest skill may not be so elegant, or polite. But we're all family here! Here she is helping herself to some squid, lots of squid. (With a little help from her trainer, Belinda, of course!)




Ursula often visits us behind the scenes here in the New Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center. We first saw her sneaking snacks from the fridge while preparing food for the rest of the seals one day. (Find out what else our seals eat here.) We wondered whether it was a fluke, but sure enough, she continues to help herself whenever she's given an opportunity. If her New Year's resolution was to lay off the snacks, it looks like she's not doing so well with that goal!

Fortunately, we have an active bunch. All five of our fur seals get plenty of exercise cruising around their pool, or learning new skills during training sessions. Come by sometime and see for yourself! And in the meantime, good luck with those New Year's resolutions.

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posted by NEAQ at 3:00 PM 1 Comments



12/17/09

#152: Sounds of the seals

Snoring, bleating, purring? This sounds like my house after the Thanksgiving meal. Imagine my surprise when I heard the same sounds coming from the Northern fur seals. Last month I posted examples of Baranov's "whickering." Ursula makes some unique sounds of her own.



Ursula had been quiet as the proverbial church mouse during her first year and a half with us. Then, only occasionally, we would hear a sound similar to that of a bleating sheep. This sound is made by some female fur seals as they enter estrus (what we refer to as "in heat" for dogs). Recently some staff members described a new sound from Ursula as a clicking or rumbling in her throat. I was able to record the sound while waiting for work to be completed on an exhibit door. Unfortunately, the recording also picks up the door being rattled so some of Ursula's sounds are covered. Her clicking sound is made with her mouth closed and goes for the first two seconds, then right as it goes to three you hear the first of the door sounds.




I tried to catch the sound again in this video, but became captivated by Baranov's territorial display. You'll see Isaac head for the water, but Cordova seems less than concerned by Baranov roaring in her face.




-Jenny

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posted by NEAQ at 11:00 AM 0 Comments



8/19/09

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

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

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posted by NEAQ at 9:20 AM 0 Comments



7/30/09

#138: Ursula the Sliding Fur Seal

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:





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posted by lindsay at 10:30 AM 0 Comments



6/24/09

#133: Testing the Waters!

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!




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posted by NEAQ at 1:06 PM 1 Comments



6/19/09

#131: The Wait Is Almost Over...

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!

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posted by Erin at 8:30 AM 0 Comments



6/18/09

#130: Get Ready For JD!



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

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posted by Rochelle at 11:20 AM 1 Comments



11/17/08

#64: Greetings from New York!


I recently took a trip to see the fur seals while they spend time at the New York Aquarium (NYAq). The girls are getting settled in with two other female fur seals, Roxie and Taz. Here's a picture of Cordova and Ursula relaxing with their new roommates. This picture was taken soon after Cordova and Ursula had a fun play session of chasing each other underwater. Luckily we were able to catch them on video for all of you to see.






-Rochelle

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posted by NEAQ at 11:06 AM 4 Comments



9/11/08

#46: Fur Seal Update 3- Meeting the NYAq Trainers

So, it hasn't been all fun and games down here. (Well that's a lie - with a job like this it's always fun). But seriously, while we have been getting the girls acclimated, we have also been introducing them to the trainers at the New York Aquarium (NYAq).

Since the fur seals will be in New York for about 1 year while their exhibit is under construction, the trainers at the NYAq will need to know everything about them. So during every training session, the trainers at NYAq accompany us, get to know the girls and learn their behaviors. Here you can see Belinda introducing Jaclyn to Ursula.

We are happy to say that this last week has been great and we are really happy with how the girls have settled in. Now that we spent some time in NY, it's time to see what has been going on back in Boston. See you there.

- Erin

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posted by Erin at 4:11 PM 2 Comments



8/26/08

#41: New York Here We Come!






Very soon we will be on the road to the New York Aquarium (NYAq). Before that happens, I wanted to give you an idea of what is really involved with moving the fur seals. I think you will be surprised to find it is very similar to how human beings travel.

So, while Belinda does some homework on our destination, I will tell you what we need before we go:




  • Travel Papers. Similar to how we need passports to travel, we need to get government documents stating that the fur seals can travel from one aquarium to another.

    • Insurance. Just like you (or your parents) carry medical insurance cards in case you have to see the doctor while you are gone, we have sent all of the fur seals' medical information to NYAq. That way the veterinary staff will know their history (like your doctor does) and can take the best possible care of them while they are there.
    • Travel Books. Some people like to bring travel books so that they can learn about their destination. What to see, where to eat, and what historical sites to see. The fur seals will also be traveling with books, but these books are for the trainers at the NYAq. They will help the trainers learn about these specific fur seals--what they know, what they eat, what they have done in the past

  • Transportation. How are you going to get there? When you are traveling, you want to get to your final destination as quickly as possible, but you also want to be practical. Lets face it, you are going to have some luggage. So if you are traveling nearby, you drive; if traveling far away, you fly. Same thing for fur seals. Since we are only going a few hours away, we will be driving down. But we will not be taking the family minivan - we have a truck. A big one. It's nice.

  • Luggage. What do you need to make your trip enjoyable? Our girls are packing the following: ice, ice, ice, and...oh yeah...ice. They like to travel cold. Brrr! They are also packing a few things which will help the trainers know more about them.
  • Travel Buddies. While you may travel by yourself, our fur seals do not. In addition to the three fur seals, there are seven people taking the trip. While each one has a specific role to play, everyone will be working to make sure the seals have a safe transport and a smooth transition to their new home.

  • Security. No trip is complete without the security check. Cordova, you are good to go!


So I think we are set. See you in New York!!
-Erin

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posted by Erin at 5:49 PM 7 Comments



#40: Fur Seals Are Moving!



By this time next week, the fur seals will no longer be at the New England Aquarium...for a little while at least. Construction for the New Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center is set to start soon with the hopes that it will be open for next summer. So in the meantime, the fur seals will head out of town. Baranov, our temporary summer resident, will be returning to the Mystic Aquarium and Institute for Exploration, while the females, Chainsaw, Cordova, and Ursula will head to the New York Aquarium. While we will all miss them, we are looking forward to working with them again in the new exhibit. Stay tuned - we will be posting blogs on what it takes to move these seals. And for those of you who haven't been in to see the seals recently, buy your tickets now. See you soon!

Erin

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posted by Erin at 7:52 AM 7 Comments



6/6/08

#16: Seal Kisses



Training a seal to kiss is fun and begins with "targeting." Targeting is asking a seal to touch a particular part of their body to an object. The object chosen can even be somebody's cheek! In this video you will see Ursula, a female Northern fur seal, giving smooches to Jamie, Jenny and YOU!

-Belinda

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posted by Belinda at 1:45 PM 2 Comments



6/3/08

#13: Seal Teeth

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!)

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posted by lindsay at 5:24 PM 3 Comments



5/2/08

#4: Grooming Video




This video shows an example of grooming. Ursula, one of our female northern fur seals, is showing off her ability to keep her fur coat in great shape. Maintaining your fur takes a lot of effort when you have 300,000 hairs per square inch!

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posted by NEAQ at 3:13 PM 7 Comments



#2: Channel 7 Visit



Good afternoon everybody,
My name is Patty and I am one of the marine mammal trainers at the New England Aquarium! We had a very exciting morning at our northern fur seal exhibit today. Dylan Dreyer from Channel 7 News filmed her "Where in New England?" segment with us! Cordova and Ursula, two of our seals, were featured throughout the news showing off their talents and doing behaviors with Dylan. The animals did an amazing job, especially having to wake up at 5 am! They were superstars through the two hours of filming and never seemed to mind the large camera and lighting that was set up. Great job girls!


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posted by NEAQ at 1:44 PM 2 Comments