Learning to Swim

Part of the process:


Video and editing thanks to Jessica Farrer, Weddell seal technician

Comments

  1. It could just be a bad case of the hiccups holding him back! :)

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  2. Is the audio track for real?!? Those vocalizations sound eerily human! Pardon the anthropomorphizing, but I felt just the same way about swimming lessons. Is this really the first time this youngster has taken the plunge? Nice job on the filming and editing by Jessica. Thanks!

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  3. Audio track is for real! Just wait till I let you listen to our hydrophone recordings...now that is something else.

    I don't think this was the first time the pup has gone swimming, but he sure hasn't done it much!

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  4. Do researchers ever use the word "cute" in their papers?

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  5. What is the blue liquid being put into the water? Antifreeze?

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    1. Thanks for being concerned...but no, it's not antifreeze...it is simply artifacts from poor quality video caused when the light reflects of the surface of the moving water below. If you watch it closely you'll notice the blue streak corresponds exactly to when the water reflects the light just right.

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  6. Replies
    1. Nope, not sick at all, just a pup with lots of hesitations about getting in the water!

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    2. Cool! you have no idea but you totally made my day with this video!

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  7. This video has been circulating around on facebook lately, and it really has made my recent weeks! Its overly adorable! You really have made so many people so happy with this! Many Thanks from Finland!

    By the way, how do the seals, or this pup react with humans? Are they used to you being there, or are they naturally not afraid of you?

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    1. Thanks for the comment coming all the way from Finland...that's great! Would love to visit there sometime.

      Weddell seals are very different than most other (if not all) seals in their response to humans, at least on the pupping colonies. The theory is that they live in an environment that doesn't have any "land" predators to worry about (they do when they are in the water), so when we approach them, they have no natural instinct to be afraid. And on top of that, they have a very gentle, or docile, personality. Not only does this make them an unique species to work with...very accessible and easily detected...but also you get to witness interesting things as if you weren't even there, and...bonus...there is little risk of having a 550 kg animal turn on you.

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    2. oh! Thanks for the answer! Very interesting.
      Say, what kind of education does this kind of work require? How does one get to do this kind of research? I got very curious! If you want to thoroughly inform me on this, here is my email! aino.jauhiainen@helsinki.fi

      Thanks again!

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  8. Do you know if this seal is still around? I'd love to know how he/she is doing.

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    1. No, unfortunately not. I seriously regret not jotting down the pups tag numbers so that we could check to see if she/he has returned. It typically takes them 6 or 7 years to return to the colony that they were born in, so if she/he was alive, we would know it by now!

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