Sealtastic Summer

Hello everyone, long time no talk (or write I guess). Since the last time I posted I have stayed very busy, but have been having lots of fun. This summer so far has been filled with seals, seals, and more seals. As y'all know from a previous post I have finally started to work at MARC . Let me tell you, it has been a completely amazing and awesome experience. I've learned so many new things and have had the experience of a lifetime.


So in case your not really sure what MARC is, let me first clarify what MARC is before I ramble on about my time here. MARC stands for the Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center and on the beautiful UNE campus in Biddeford, ME. MARC takes in stranded marine mammals and rehabilitates them to get them back into the wild. They rehab four types of seals (Harbor, Grey, Harp, and Hooded), three types of sea turtles (Kemp's Ridley, Green, and Loggerhead), and Harbor Porpoises. It opened it's doors in 2001 and received it's first animal in 2002. Ok, now that you know what MARC is, I will start my ramblings about this summer.


I work four days a week at MARC (or should say did because I only have two more days left working there this summer before I head home).My work involves a variety of things with a one of the largest aspects being cleaning. We clean each room thoroughly once a day and hose it down quite a bit to clean up the messes that the seals leave behind. Sometimes there are giant messes because they have use the bathroom just like in nature. lol. They is also a lot of dishes that we have to do and laundry because when the seals are younger we give them towels to lay on. Then there is also making the formula and fish gruel that we feed the seals before they start eating fish. The food is a lot of oils with vitamins and other nutrients to increase the seals weight (and of course fish gruel include blended up pieces of fish). Then of course the most fun parts are actually being around the seals. I've got to restrain them, tube them, supervise their swims sometimes, stick fish on tongs/string in front of their face trying to get them to eat it, and kennel them for different purposes. It is so much fun because each seal has its own personality: some are very snappy, some very liking of people, some more peaceful, and some annoyingg. Of course, we are always very careful around the seals because they do have teeth and claws that they will use (WARNING: if you ever come across a seal, even a pup you think is distressed DON'T go near it. It can be dangerous for both you and the seal. If you think it needs help call a stranding hotline). For protection we wear bibs and gloves when handling the animals.


Then a couple afternoons a week and two other days I help two grad students with research. The one project I talked about in my post "Wrestling with Seals". The other project is watching videos of the harbor pups that are at MARC. I watch videos of when they are in pools and record when their nose goes underwater and then when it comes back up. It is to record how long they are "diving" for. The videos can definitely be amusing and I have been having lots of fun with both those projects. I also help my advisor with some of her research on the behavior of harbor pups. All of these definitely been interesting experiences. I even got a chance to head out on a boat with my advisor and another research helper to look for seals on different islands right of the coasts. We ended up finding some seals on some of the rocks which was really cool because it was a chance to see seals in the wild.


So as you can see (or read actually) my summer has been filled with lots and lots of seals. Thus it has been a sealtastic summer.

"That's All Folks"

P.S. I will try to be better at posting


P.P.S. Check out my photoblog for pictures of my boat adventure