Here’s a male seal encountering his first butterfly. He’s in a tank at the Oregon Zoo, and the butterfly was fluttering outside the tank. Mashable explains in some purplish prose:
Kaya, a harbor seal at the Oregon Zoo, became transfixed by a butterfly flying near her enclosure — and it is the most perfect thing I have ever seen.
Senior Keeper Micah Reese captured the moment while cleaning her enclosure, and shared the footage on Facebook last week.
“Here’s something special that made my heart smile today,” Reese wrote in his caption. “I walked down to viewing before our next dive to check out our work after cleaning [the] seal exhibit this morning, and I found Kaya playing with her new friend.”
In the video, sweet sea angel Kaya can be seen following the butterfly as it flies by her tank.
Kaya, completely mesmerized by the butterfly presses her nose up against the tank to get a better look. She even waves at the fluttering bug toward the end of the video, and it’s almost too much to handle.
Well, I wouldn’t call a seal a “sweet sea angel,” but of course I would call my ducks “sweet pond angels,” so what do I know? (I can’t resist pointing out that, in contrast to seals, ducks have wings.)
That’s super cute, but Mashable needs to get out more.
Seems to me that the seal is not waving but making a vain attempt to whack the butterfly. Snack time?
Maybe trying to make it move again?
I agree much more likely to be wondering if it is edible
Seals have an amazing level of intelligence. I remember seeing one on a science TV show that could do simple arithmetic! (Yes, I know there are many other explanations but I know about those and was still convinced.) Then there’s the seal that pretends to be knocked out by the cat’s punches:
https://twitter.com/Elverojaguar/status/1035791984164839425.
Unless it was trained to do this, I have to think this was the seal’s attempt at humor. I suspect I will be accused of excessive anthropomorphism here but I call them as I see them.
Errm, that clip was featured on WEIT a cople of days ago.
And I agree, I attributed a sense of humour to the seal too.
cr
I can see the appeal of this scene except for the fact that seal is confined in a tank rather than swimming free (I have visited seal colonies both here in Norfolk and in Cornwall, where one sees seals in their natural environment).
and your ducks are free to leave…