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Ferociously Cute Seal Pups
Ferociously Cute Seal Pups
While studying fur seal pups, explorer Douglas Krause finds these little mammals are "ridiculously cute"—but also ferocious. Krause is in Cape Shirreff, Antarctica, working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations (NOAA) Fisheries’ Antarctic Marine Living Resources Program (AMLR).
The NOAA team, led by wildlife biologist Mike Goebel, is dedicated to monitoring the health of fur seals, other Antarctic species, and the Cape Shirreff ecosystem as a whole. The data they collect can be used to help inform management of commercial fishing for sustainable resource exploitation in Antarctica.
One way Krause’s team tracks the health of fur seal pups is by weighing a hundred pups every 15 days throughout the summer. The measurements reveal whether or not the pups have enough food to eat. “If there were fewer krill for their mothers to forage for offshore, we might see a slower growth rate in the pups and we could pass that information on to the management bodies to essentially set regulations,” Krause says.
The pups can’t count on harmless encounters from some of the other species they encounter, though. Along with National Geographic, the NOAA team placed Crittercams on leopard seals. The footage revealed a grisly fate for many fur seal pups and captured behavior never before seen on video.
Protect these ferociously cute seal pups before they are gone forever. Dining on meat-free meals at http://KindMeal.my can help ensure a safer, more sustainable ecosystem.
Source: http://bit.ly/1RmMf6D
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