Interesting article about seals

[Bogertophis]

Furthermore, if you fail to interest the public in an area you wish to pursue "good luck!" getting funding! How many people do you think would read some dry
scientific article about this anyway? Count 'em on one hand... (& you can figure that they'll mostly be relatives...)

[Dianne]

Cool article, Craig...thanks for sharing. I love reading all kinds of nature articles and books, as well as watching any kind of nature programs. In years of programs, I’ve never seen anything like this.

And the seal looks so content, almost proud of himself...maybe the seal equivalent of piercing?

[Bogertophis]

Cool article, Craig...thanks for sharing. I love reading all kinds of nature articles and books, as well as watching any kind of nature programs. In years of programs, I’ve never seen anything like this.

And the seal looks so content, almost proud of himself...maybe the seal equivalent of piercing?

Hey, maybe he's doing yoga!? There's a thing (I forget what it's called) where they pass a string up one nostril & down/out the other; needless to say, I didn't work
that hard in yoga class, lol...

[zina10]

Here is my observation to this whole thing...

First of all, interesting article. What is esp. interesting about it is not just what has happened to those seals, but how humans interpret it.

I do not think this scientist literally begs the seals to stop this behavior. That was just the articles writer attempt at making this story more interesting and fun.
From what I read that scientist jokingly said that IF the seals could understand humans, he would tell them to please stop this potentially hazardous behavior.
Scientist are often quite the socially awkward people. They spend a lot of time out in the field, are interested in things not many other people are, and are often what we refer to as "nerds".
Their attempts at being humorous don't always come across as intended.

After he made that quip/joke, the writer ran with that line and elaborated on it.

That said, I do not think the seal looks relaxed or comfortable. They have very little to work with when it comes to body language. But something about the seals face makes it seem that it is actually very uncomfortable. After going through quite a few health scares with my dogs and my horse over the years I pay extreme attention to their eyes and facial expressions. Often that is the first sign that something isn't quite right. To me the seals lips look tight and drawn up a bit. Oftentimes dogs and even horses will have those tight and drawn up lips when something bothers them or they are in pain. Almost resembles a "smile" but there is a tightness to it and some wrinkles along the corners of the lips. I call them "worry wrinkles" and in horses and dogs you will also get them around the eyes, but with the seal there isn't enough loose skin to show this.

The so called relaxed half closed eyes do not look relaxed or "high" to me at all. One is shut more then the other. To me it looks like squinting rather then relaxed eyes. If you were to stick a finger or something else way up into your nose (please don't) you would squint, too, its involuntary. And not comfortable.

Its like the one scientist said, they are very stoic animals. They won't throw themselves around and carry on, they probably did try to get rid of the irritation by rubbing their faces on stuff, but without hands to remove it, what can they do. Eventually they just give up and endure.

Making it seem like they do this purposely and get some kind of strange pleasure from it, by making the connection to young people, snorting, looking high or relaxed, is just the typical human thing of trying to attribute human behavior and tendencies onto animals.

As to why this happened, who knows. Like its been said, they shove their faces into cracks and crevices underwater, trying to get those inhabitants to come out and be eaten. The younger seals may very well by more inexperienced and somehow this happened. I don't think its a new thing, or a learned behavior. Its probably just one of the things that was just now noticed and now the people are actually looking for this.

But then again, I could be wrong about it all, this is just what I came away with from reading this article and looking at the picture

[Bogertophis]

I had no difficulty interpreting the scientist's humor in this either, perhaps because I was good friends for years with one. This article was obviously (to many of
us) written with what is termed "writer's license"...a little intentional distortion woven-in for the sake of impact. Nothing rare about that either.

I think you're correct zina10...the seal is just "enduring", as most wild animals must with non-existent healthcare.

[zina10]

I think you're correct zina10...the seal is just "enduring", as most wild animals must with non-existent healthcare.

Or non existent hands with opposable thumbs with which to pull out the offending object!

[Reinz]

Interesting article, thanks Craig!

Did anyone click on the short electric eel vid? I found that equally interesting.
The electric pulses were converted to sound......

[Dianne]

Interesting article, thanks Craig!

Did anyone click on the short electric eel vid? I found that equally interesting.
The electric pulses were converted to sound......

I didn’t watch the video in the link (but will now ), but recently saw a nature program on electric eels. It’s incredible the wattage they can produce...enough to give you a very bad day, and even kill a human.

[MR Snakes]

I think y'all need to go to the nut house!

[Bogertophis]

I think y'all need to go to the nut house!

Well, if you're joking, a might help...but if not, there's plenty of other playgrounds you can go play on.