A fur seal in tussock grass - mouth open, in a way that looks like they are looking up at the sky in surprise.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Wait... It's scientists with a thermal imaging drone! 🦭
The team at King Edward Point Research Station in South Georgia have been monitoring the population of Antarctic fur seals.
Why? Well, fur seal numbers can change due to food factors or disease...
🧵 1/5
Our recent paper on grey and harbour seal transboundary distribution made the cover of @jappliedecology.bsky.social! 😀🦭Thanks to Dr Kelly Robinson of @seamammalresearch.bsky.social for the photo!
Check the paper here: doi.org/10.1111/1365...
🦭 We have a new paper out! We developed an accessible framework for assessing the risk of collision between seals and operating tidal turbines.
⏭️ We found that most seal tracks moved near the turbine without collision.
Read it here: doi.org/10.1002/aqc....
@seamammalresearch.bsky.social
Here's a fun one - colleagues did formant analysis on a harbor seal before and after he learned to modify one of his vocalizations. A growing body of work suggests Phocinae seals really do have fairly high vocal production plasticity. Wonder why...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
The tool uses your phone’s location (which I never store or even see) and instantly gives you the nearest three rescue teams, stranding responders, or national hotlines. All you need to do is call!
A big red button with off-white background and off-white text saying: „Report a Seal“
New on The Seal Signal: A small tool to show the nearest seal rescue hotline. Simple, fast, and accessible to anyone who finds a seal in distress. sealsignal.org/report-a-seal
This is a really fascinating read, not only because there are seals, but also for its meandering structure and excursions into history, etymology, and archeology.
Explanation of the Seal Signal and Donation Dive handwritten in Japanese, complete with comic style illustrations of the website, donation box, thank-you message, and reward letter or mail, with a cute seal illustration on top.
One of my favorite things: sticker artist Haru kindly translated the whole Seal Signal & Donation Dive explanation into Japanese and made cute illustrations! I’ve already sent stickers to Japan and had to learn how to address them correctly.
A thin grey seal pup in a hospital pen with a bowl, looking back to the camera.
Say hello to the first grey seal pup of the season at Skegness Natureland Seal Hospital, and keep your flippers crossed for this poor little worm (see pinned post to support)
A letter icon and text: "Step 3 Get reward." The stickers are shown (they show cute seal pups on a beach that is like a stylized world map). It says: "choose your favorite", "participate from anywhere", "every donation counts".
The stickers are a small thank-you token for your support! They will come with international mail - or choose the digital reward, if you prefer. It's very cute, too, and comes with a surprise, not just the sticker design ^^
A camera icon and text: "Step 2: send screenshot". Explains how to send a screenshot to the Seal Signal and crop any sensitive information, send it per dm on social media or webpage form: sealsignal.org/donation-dive There is a sample screenshot, but any receipt works.
The screenshot is so that I can see you have donated. You can upload it on the Seal Signal webpage or just send it in a message. You will also be able to enter your address there for the sticker to be sent.
A donation box graphic, with text: "Step 1: Donate". "Go to Skegness Natureland Seal Hospital's Fundraiser (link in bio or use their webpage)". There's a screenshot of the fundraiser, currently at 230 pounds of a 100,000 they need. Text with arrow: "We want to change this.", and the URL of the fundraiser: justgiving.com/crowdfunding/natureland2025
there are already some donations in - thank you so much, seal friends! But this is their fundraiser for the whole year, and it needs help.
A photo of a seal pup with its nose to the camera in the middle, and text and a heart around it: "How to help seals and get your thank-you sticker." and: "This is Crepe! He lives at Natureland Seal Hospital, UK, and can soon go back to the sea thanks to their care."
I want to share my instruction info for the Donation Dive, mostly because everyone needs to meet Crepe!
IT’S HAPPENING!!
Photo of a harbor seal pup in the blue water of a pool at a rehabilitation center, swimming and looking around, probably for fish.
Thank you so much for your support!! It means a lot. Rice Pudding thinks so, too:
Photo of a seal pup in the pool of a rehabilitation center, his flippers on the edge of the pool and looking expectantly to the camera, all whiskers out.
Thank you so much for looking it up and donating - stickers are already on the way (but they need to cross an ocean ^^ ). This is current patient Crepe and he says he's delighted to get fish:
@sealsignal.bsky.social , is running their first ever donation dive! Donate to a seal rescue, upload a screen shot of your receipt, and get a human-drawn (and adorable!) sticker in the mail 😍
sealsignal.org/donation-dive
Claim your sticker by sending the screenshot via DM or use the form on the webpage (there's faq and more info there, too): sealsignal.org/donation-dive
✨first 50 donors get both stickers✨
Participate from anywhere in the world and choose any donation amount - every little bit helps the seals, but I hope you'll be generous if you can. Ask me anything if you have questions! Donate here: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding...
To round seal stickers on a sheet of blue origame paper with a wave pattern: each sticker shows a stylized worldmap and a cute seal pup in a semi-realistic line-art style - 1 is a white-fured pup, 2 is already molting.
Donation Dive 1 has launched! This means you can:
- Donate directly to Natureland Skegness Seal Hospital
- Send a screenshot of the donation ("Thank you" page) via DM or on The Seal Signal webpage (scroll down for link)
- Get a sticker created by Haru mailed to you as a thank-you
Text reads ‘New walrus haul-out discovery sparks a call for walrus detective’. Smaller text in the bottom right corner reads ‘Tusk tusk!’. Image of a group of walrus hauled up on a rock, surrounded by blue water in bright light.
Could you be our next walrus detective? 🕵
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Satellite imagery has helped scientists discover a new walrus haul-out site. And it's sparked a call for your help! 📢
To safeguard their future, we urgently need to understand how they’re affected by the climate crisis.👇
www.wwf.org.uk/learn/walrus...
a Vampyronassa has caught a lone Siriella and uses its arms to bring the helpless crustacean to its beak, both animals are illuminated by a light coming from the camera Vampyronassa is an extinct relative of living vampire squids, however, it was an active predator unlike its living planktivorous relatives. to aid in hunting it had two longer arms with cirri situated only at the end with a single row of suckers between, the rest of the arms had cirri all the way down with a single row of suckers down the length of each arm Siriella is a still living genus of crustacean that looks similar to krill, species of Siriella existed in La Voulte-sur-Rhône, the lagerstätte where Vampyronassa is found in
a female Allodesmus has caught an adult slender mola (Ranzania laevis) and proceeds to play with the helpless fish Allodesmus is an extinct pinniped (the group that contains seals, sealions, walruses etc.) with an uncertain relation to the other groups, they possessed some sexual dimorphism with males having larger canines to fight other males the slender mola (Ranzania laevis) is a still living species of sunfish that are more gracile than their larger relatives as their name suggests
a Papiliomaris uses a raptorial feeding appendage to hold onto a filament from a large macroalgae to stabalise itself in the water column as organic particles rush around it, it holds its antennae up into the water to sense for danger and prey alike Papiliomaris is an enigmatic animal who's relationship to other invertebrates was only recently discussed, in previous years it was known as the 'butterfly animal' or the 'Waukesha butterfly animal' due to its butterfly-like appearance from a dorsal view. it possessed large eyes, a bivalved carapace six pairs of limbs with cetae all along their length, and a large abdomen with many spines along the edge, the identity of its first appendages were deamed antennae by the authors of the paper that described the animal, however, many interpret them as raptorial feeding appendages due to their morphology, further study is needed to determine the exact nature of this unique animal's anatomy
a Pterodactylus flies close to the shoreline as a large wave comes crashing in Pterodactylus is one of the most well known pterosaurs (flying reptiles that used bat-like skin membranes to fly), often mistakingly called 'a pterodactyl'. they possessed a long rigid neck with a long beak filled with teeth, as well as soft tissue crests on their head most likely used for some form of social signalling
here's today's #Paleostream sketches!!!
today we sketched Vampyronassa (i drew mine eating a Siriella), Allodesmus (i drew mine playing with a slender mola), Papiliomaris, and Pterodactylus
#paleoart #sciart #alttext
We would be so lonely and sad without our fellow animals
That said, I need to tell myself very sternly that opossums eat them to find something good to say about ticks.
A large adult polar bear standing on the shoreline
A platypus in shallow water, with one of its forelimbs in the swimming paddle position, as it twists its body to scratch with its hindlimb
An Australian sea lion on a beach, propping itself up on its massive front paddles
❓Incidentally, what does a #PolarBear, #platypus and #SeaLion have in common (other than all being excellent animals)?
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🅰️ They are unusual among swimming #mammals as they power their swimming with their front feet. #MammalWatching
Enter the Seal Librarian - sharing his pick of seal-worthy articles and posts (yes we have a librarian, what did you think? Click and be sternly stared at)
Launch week was hectic, so finally: a post about the IUCN Red List status update on 3 seal species. Not the lightest news to kick things off ☹️
Screenshot of a worldmap with dots marked along the coasts in three different colors: red for rescue & rehab centers, green for conservation projects, blue for research facilities. There is a little key explaining the activities of each facility.
Sneak peak at the map! This is the core of The Seal Signal: a global map to help you find, support, and connect with those who protect seals. Explore it at our web page and let us know if your favorite seal spot is missing! #seals
The Seal Signal's logo, showing a chonky off-white seal silhouette projected into a circle with the web address sealsignal.org on a dark red background. The above and below reads "Whiskers up, flippers primed" and "Where sealhood finds its champions".
Welcome to The Seal Signal! Come for our global map and directory of seal centers and conservation groups, stay to learn, support those who protect seals and their ocean home, and celebrate seal art. We hope to connect orgs, artists, and supporters in a meaningful way.
Will you galumph with us?