Grumpy seal HATES otters! #shorts

#seal #shorts #kpassionate
While this channel is most famous for adorable sea otter content, seals need love too!

I get a lot of comments that sea otters aren't always nice to seals. You can see my reaction to that here: https://youtu.be/UIQQwwVt4y0

This seal is actually a retired research animal. Years ago, many people believed that predation by harbour seals significantly impacted juvenile coho and Chinook salmon. Many blamed harbour seals poor return of spawning adults. Researchers from the University of British Columbia set out to determine who was eating juvenile salmon, and when and where it was occurring by tracking harbour seals that carried cell-phone-like devices that recorded everything and everywhere the seals went.

They also used seals under human care, like Hermes, and continuously measured their food intake and body mass. This allowed the researchers to assess how body mass and food intake changed as the seals matured and identify predictable seasonal cycles where both mass and food intake varied during the year. Using this data, the research team was able to identify potential critical periods when the seals relied on ingesting large amounts of fish needed to restore vital fat stores lost during earlier periods (when they ate less and were more active), as well as prepare for future seasons when on-board fat reserves are essential to survival and reproduction.

They were completely surprised to learn that harbour seals were not preying on the salmon but actually helping the salmon populations instead by targeting other fish. Fish that were preying on the juvenile salmon! After vindicating his species, Hermes was retired from the research program and has gone on to live a long and healthy life with other harbour seals. He is currently 30 years old! Which is very impressive considering wild seals only live to be 20 - 25.

Learn more about the research programs Hermes took part in here: https://mmru.ubc.ca/2020/12/harbour-seals-respond-differently/
https://oceans.ubc.ca/tag/seals/

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