#marinebiology #oceanscience #marinescience #pinniped #seal #sea #ocean #nonprofitorganization #nonprofit #sciencecommunication #sciencenonprofit #informationalgraphic #fyp

Hello Ladies & Gentlemen! In collaboration with our brilliant Social Media Volunteers, we created a series of seal-themed informational graphics. Seals are held captive by humans for a variety of reasons such as display in zoos and aquaria, scientific research purposes, military work, and rehabilitation to care for stranded individuals. In zoos and aquaria, seals are either kept alone or in groups, while sea lions are most often housed in groups. Seals and sea lions in various captive facilities have access to differing amounts of enrichment, training, and some perform for public shows. They are intelligent and tend to be highly trainable which means they seek novel and varying stimuli through exploration and play. To provide enrichment so that the seals do not get bored, the zoos or aquaria may introduce the seals to balls or toys in the pools, devices similar to dog toys that release food as they are moved around, and large ice cubes that contain fish pieces inside. Some seals may require rehabilitation from humans if they are found  sick or injured. The goal of their rehabilitation is to improve their chances of survival and being returned to the wild. Some rehabilitation facilities may have short term holdings for seals and focus on immediate stabilization while some have long term holdings to give the seal time to recover from illness or injury before being released in the wild. The decision to rehabilitate a live-stranded marine mammal can depend on many factors such as conservation priority, likelihood of survival, and available space at the facility. Rehabilitation facilities also play a vital role in learning about the issues that seals are facing and how they can address it. For instance, the successful treatment of the endangered Hawaiian monk seals was all due to the decades-long work with harbor seals and California sea lions. Data collected from marine mammals in rehabilitation can also help identify and reduce threats to species in the wild.