Seal Pups: Ferociously Cute and Worth Protecting | Expedition Raw

When working with fur seal pups, you really need to watch out for your rank. Personal pups are tiny, but they are ferocious in their own right. We're weighing fur seal pups to make sure that they're getting enough food to eat, and if they're not, we can use that information to help set appropriate fishing regulations and ensure that the fur seal pups are healthy.

Well, what Mike's doing is basically just trying to encourage several of the pups to get together, make them easier for everybody else, and grab them. It's almost like herding. Some keys to a successful fur seal grab are moving quietly, slowly, and not making eye contact. You can sort of pick them up a little bit more easily.

They're developing the skills that they'll need as adults to protect themselves. They can growl, they can try to fight. Yeah, we want to make sure that the animal stays safe, so we're really motivated to minimize our impact, both because it helps the data that we collect be more accurate, and also because we have a moral responsibility not to harm.

Quite frequently, we'll release the fur seal pups, and they'll just stop, turn around, look at you, and just hang out and sort of watch the other fur co-pups getting weighed. There's no getting around the fact that Antarctic fur seals are ridiculously cute. Some of them are very curious, and they'll come right up to you to check you out. It's awesome to be able to see them grow and thrive; that's adorable.