Juvenile seals urged to "make better choices"

[bigtree]

Last edited Sun Dec 9, 2018, 03:11 AM - Edit history (1)

WBAL-TV 11 Baltimore @wbaltv11 4m4 minutes ago
‘Make better choices’: Researchers beg endangered seals to not stick eels up nose http://bit.ly/2RJWvxt

Monk seal researchers in Hawaii are stumped after finding multiple seals with eels stuck up their nostrils.

Officials with the Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program posted to Facebook about the odd occurrences stating they aren’t sure why it’s happening, but it hasn’t stopped.

The post, which has been shared more than 1,200 times, reads:

“Mondays...it might not have been a good one for you, but it had to have been better than an eel in your nose. We have reported on this phenomenon before which was first noted a few years back.

“We have now found juvenile seals with eels stuck in their noses on multiple occasions. In all cases the eel was successfully removed, and the seals were fine. The eels, however, did not make it. PC B. Dolan.”

“We have no idea why this is suddenly happening,” a scientist dealing with this issue for a couple of years, Charles Littnan, said. “You see some very strange things if you watch nature long enough, and this could end up being one of these little oddities and mysteries of our careers that 40 years from now, we’ll be retired and still questioning quite how this happened.”

But Littan told the Washington Post they are hoping the seals “make better choices.”


read: https://t.co/LMewQ4LDUS

It's not ALL about the EEL.
For more info on Hawaiian monk seals check out and explore the site:
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/pacific-islands/endangered-species-conservation/hawaiian-monk-seal-updates?fbclid=IwAR0_0VkuA2Ct9sHsFSAU9N8UmdzQ7GJJGMSWgzY9AbDKbLbGhyLdXcSkQnE

[ProudLib72]

1. Maybe nose eels are the height of seal fashion?

Humans do some crazy things in the name of fashion, so why not seals?

[bigtree]

2. the polkadots do give this youngster a bit of panache

...poor eel.

[mr_lebowski]

3. That's bizarre ... you'd think the seal could get it out by rubbing nose against rocks ...

Although maybe the eels grab hold in the sinus cavity by their teeth, which could make trying to yank them out via the more obvious methods ... rather painful. If disturbing or trying to injure the body of the eel makes it bite down harder, I could see how the poor seal might be a bit ... stuck.

Could maybe also be a thing where the seal 'inhales' an eel egg when they're very young, on accident, and the eel ends up developing and growing from the spot the egg landed.

Another thing trippy about this is that the eel is a very similar color, and almost looks 'furry'.

[bigtree]

5. inhaling eel eggs

...could be habit(at) forming.

[Demovictory9]

4. that looks so weird

[lillypaddle]

6. Those kids!

Haven't they heard about beans???

[bigtree]

7. we see you

[bigtree]

8. .

[jmowreader]

9. "Nose Eels" would be a great name for a punk band

[bigtree]

11. nose eels

...are no seals.

[smirkymonkey]

10. Very strange.

[bigtree]

12. indeed

[Hermit-The-Prog]

13. seal seals nose with nose seal eel

At least they don't have tide pods.