Did you see the harbor seals in The Boston Globe this weekend? They were showing off their artistic abilities during a Paint with the Seals program. We do this enriching behavior with the seals regularly, something fun that the seals can learn. But now visitors can be part of the creative process by choosing colors and being there while the masterpiece is created!

Learn more about our Paint With the Seals Program.

Read the full article in The Boston Globe.

Chacoda gets creative | Photo: David Ryan/Boston Globe

Cayenne gets creative | Photo: David Ryan/Boston Globe

Way back this winter (note the snow, ugh), Chacoda the harbor seal gave visitors a clinic on porpoising. Porpoising is when a seal (or any marine animal) bursts out of the water, usually in a graceful arc. It's a skill that this harbor seal has down pat! Since it's never too late to share awesome video, check out this slow-motion clip of Chuck getting some air.

 

Chacoda was born on June 8, 1995. He'll be 20 next month! He is part of our spotted family of seals. You can distinguish him from other seals in the exhibit by looking for the dark spots all along his belly and his large nostrils (especially compared to his sister Cayenne, who has more petite features).

That face!

Let's air things out and see how marine animals leap out of the water:

• The sea lions make it look easy
• Sierra has learned how to get some serious air
• Sometimes the rockhopper penguins get in a porpoising frenzy
• A while back we practiced synchronized porpoising with the harbor seals
• The seals and sea lions do a lot of porpoising when they play
• And even humpback whales can breach the water's surface!

Earlier this year, we followed Chacoda into the water, thanks to his special ability to wear a GoPro harness. The harness fits around his front flippers and a critter cam sits snug on his back. Chuck (as he's affectionately known in these parts) and Paul worked together for some time so this handsome harbor seal could learn to wear the harness while swimming and diving around the exhibit.

Adjusting the camera: Above the water

This skill gives us a special opportunity to see what it's like to effortlessly navigate the habitat in this Front Plaza exhibit and even spring out of the water during a training session! Today's cool video shows us both sides of that story: the traditional above-water perspective of trainers in the exhibit and below the water from Chucky's point of view! Take a look.



Not only does this skill of Chacoda's provide a fun way to explore the exhibit underwater, learning new skills such as wearing a harness is a good way to keep this harbor seal active both mentally and physically. Trainers also teach seals behaviors that can help with their medical care, such as opening their mouths for tooth brushing or presenting a flipper so a vet can examine it or draw blood.

Adjusting the camera: Chacoda's perspective

The harbor seals cruising among the toys in their exhibit

Come by to see the harbor seals in their Front Plaza exhibit. You'll have new appreciation for the agility and abilities of these athletic harbor seals!

Check out these links to learn more about the harbors seals:

• Here's a picture of the previous incarnation of the critter cam—so big!
• Learn the lingo trainers use to teach the seals and sea lions new skills
• Go through the steps that the trainers learn to teach the seals new behaviors
• The harbor seals are the Aquarium's welcoming committee
• Watch Chacoda work out with some crunches
• And see how Chacoda can be a real romantic

Chacoda, here, is giving us the chance to see what the harbor seals see during a training session. Not only can we see the tunnels and toys underwater in the exhibit, but you can also see yourselves—the visitors—through the glass!



Lead marine mammal trainer Paul Bradley has been working with Chacoda, or Chuck, for many years. The pair have a strong connection, and Paul has taught him some impressive behaviors.

Paul and Chacoda, or Chuck

You may recall that Paul trained Chuck to wear a simple harness across his back and over his flippers several years ago. That harness was fitted with a camera back in 2008 and our very own "crittercam" was born.

Paul adjusts the new GoPro camera on Chuck's harness

Fast-forward to 2014 and the advancements in underwater camera technology have come a long way. The harness is fitted with a tiny GoPro camera today, which returns crisp video and exciting perspectives of the exhibit. And if you liked this video, wait until you see the one we have up our sleeves. Chacoda was wearing the harness when he was showing his ability to leap out of the water and spin! Stay tuned for that one.

Check out these links to learn more about the harbors seals:

• Here's a picture of the previous incarnation of the critter cam—so big!
• Learn the lingo trainers use to teach the seals and sea lions new skills
• Look who visited the harbor seals after the Red Sox won the World Series!
• The harbor seals are the Aquarium's welcoming committee

Come by the Aquarium this weekend and see if the seals want to interact through the glass. Want to get even closer to a seal? Like, in the exhibit next to a seal? Consider our Meet and Greet a Seal programs with the fur and harbor seals! Get a front-row seat as a trainer teaches new skills, feel the seal's belly fur, maybe even get a kiss.

The first animals visitors see during a trip to the Aquarium is usually the harbor seals. Their outdoor exhibit on the front plaza lets you get within inches of these plump pinnipeds to watch them bask on flat rocks, bob or glide through the water. It's such a thrill watching people—young and old—light up when they see the seals' faces, especially when the seals interact through the glass.

A recent visitor shared this image of his daughter going nose-to-nose with Chacoda. Will you look at the delight on her face?! Thank you for sharing your picture, Bill Woods.

A young visitor interacts with Chacoda | Photo: Bill Woods

Chacoda is from our family of spotted seals. He's known for his painting masterpieces, clean teeth and his sporting prowess. But what really gets people's attention is his voice. Listen to him cheer for the Patriots. In fact, you can even download a Chacoda ringtone—no joke!

Come by the Aquarium this weekend and see if the seals want to interact through the glass. Want to get even closer to a seal? Like, in the water with a seal? Consider our Take a Dip with a Seal programs with the fur and harbor seals! Before the weather turns cold for good, don waders for one of these incredible interactive experiences. Get a front-row seat as a trainer teaches new skills, feel the seal's belly fur, maybe even get a kiss.

Most Atlantic harbor seals are born in May and June. At the New England Aquarium, the trainers like to help the seals celebrate the o-fish-al birthday season. These special occasions only come around once a year so it’s a big celebration for our six Atlantic harbor seals!

An ice toy layer cake for Reggae!

You may think we celebrate in a slightly unconventional way, but for seals, it’s a party! In lieu of birthday cake and icing, we concoct tasty fish surprises for our aquatic mammals.


Heart shaped ice toy surprise for Trumpet!

This year we chose a different way to celebrate for each Harbor seal. Check out some of the ways we celebrated.


Happy Birthday everyone!!

Smile!

-Marie

Chacoda, the Atlantic harbor seal, has been practicing a special skill for a while. What do you think?



It's not unusual to seals at rest in this pose. It's called the banana posture—doesn't it kinda look like a curved banana? — and Chuck has been perfecting this for a while. Now that's a lot of crunches!



Seals in the wild also demonstrate this pose as on the Aquarium's Rescue Team blog.



This wild harbor seal appears to be resting based on the banana posture of its body.

Rochelle posted a blog about seals sticking out their tongues when we first started the blog. I thought it would be neat to show you how we teach that behavior. I just taught Chacoda how to stick his tongue out like the others and here are the steps I took:

First, I needed to let him know what I was looking for. I wanted to use a little "tongue target." Since he is used to my fingers in his mouth (for mouth check-ups and brushing), I chose to use the smooth end of a toothbrush. Every time I touched the tip of his tongue with the end, I would bridge him and reward. I did this a few times, just to make sure he knew what I was looking for.




Then, I put the end close to his tongue, but didn't touch it. I wanted him to find the target he had been reinforced for so many times. Since I had made it clear that touching this = lots of fish, it was no surprise that he caught on quickly and pushed his tongue out toward the target.





I immediately bridged the forward motion and fed A LOT. I wanted to be sure he knew that pushing outward with his tongue was the motion I was looking for. This is where I introduced my signal, a tap on the nose. Each time I asked him to find the target and stick out that tongue, I tapped his nose so he would pair the two. Nose tap = stick out my tongue.






After approximating his tongue out to his lip, I was able to selectively bridge and reinforce the trials where his tongue was out the farthest, without using the toothbrush end.







With the correct reinforcement, I successfully taught him that tapping the end of his nose, meant stick out your tongue!

Not only is Chacoda a skilled voice artist, he's also pretty romantic! This week he teamed up with Lindsay to help this lovely young couple get engaged! Below are some screen shots of what happened. The Boston Globe has the full video here.

How would you like to hear a harbor seal say "hey! hey!" every time your phone rings? Well now you can. The Aquarium's youngest harbor seal, Chacoda, often makes gutteral noises. The trainers have been working with that behavior to see if Chacoda can learn to vocalize like his famous grandfather, Hoover.



Well, sounds like Chuck is getting pretty close to the sound of someone calling out "hey!" Click the play button to hear for yourself and use the links to download an MP3 for your phone.

Download MP3. (Some users may need to right click and select "save" or "save as.")

Trumpet and her two kids, Cayenne and Chuck, have birthdays within one day of each other so we decided to have a group celebration this weekend. Cayenne turns 16 tomorrow, Trumpet turns 24 on Sunday, and Chuck is 14 years old Monday! We celebrated with a birthday cake, but instead of having one made out of ice cream, their cake was made out of capelin and squid. Yum! Of course, we had to take some birthday pictures.

We are always trying to come up with new enrichment ideas for the seals, and in fact, this was one of my goals for the year. Yesterday we introduced 10 moonjellies to the harbor seal exhibit, with the hopes that the seals would enjoy something that actively moved throughout the water column.



Most of the seals were resting, so they didn't pay any attention to the jellies at all, but they did attract Chuck's attention.

Check it out!




-Erin

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While our fur seals are on vacation, I thought that this would be a great opportunity to give you an in depth introduction to each of our Atlantic harbor seals. Each week we will highlight one of our harbor seals and give you some cool facts and amazing behaviors that make each of our animals unique.

This week the star of the show is Chacoda!

Chacoda was born on June 8, 1995. He is going to be fourteen years old next week! His mom is Trumpet and he has an older sister named Cayenne. Chacoda's name was chosen by his trainers and is a combination of two different words ... Chauncy (a lobster pier in Maine that a lot of trainers enjoyed) and Coda (the end of a musical piece, since Chacoda's Mom is named Trumpet). Despite all of the thought that went into his name, more often than not we just call him Chuck!
Chuck is part of our spotted family of seals. You can see this by taking a look at the picture above. He has dark spots all along his belly. Below, you can see that he also has very large nostrils; these help to distinguish him from his sister Cayenne who has more petite features. Currently Chuck weighs about 155 lbs. but has been known to reach weights in the 180's depending on the time of year.


Although Chuck is our youngest seal, he has learned a vast array of behaviors. One of the most well known behaviors is his ability to vocalize. Chuck can often be heard making deep guttural sounds that echo throughout the exhibit and even down the front plaza of the Aquarium! Like his grandfather Hoover, and his father Rigel, Chuck has learned to say a few different words and phrases. Stay tuned for a future post from Cheryl for more info!

Wearing an underwater camera is another cool behavior that Chuck has under his belt. Paul trained this behavior last year. Now you can get a view of our exhibit from the harbor seals' perspective. Paul is also in the process of training Chuck to do a back flip. This is an awesome behavior to watch because it shows how athletic the seals are. If Chuck gets enough speed and height, he can propel himself completely out of the water, flip backwards in a full 360 degree circle and then land back in the water in his original position.

Erin is also Chuck's trainer and she has done some amazing things with him. All of our seals allow us to brush their teeth using manual toothbrushes. But sometimes it takes a little more to handle seal plaque. So, over the past six months, Erin has not only trained Chuck to allow a rotary toothbrush on his teeth, they have now moved up to a Sonicare toothbrush! For those of you who have one, you know the sound that they make and how much they vibrate. It takes a lot of work to train a seal to accept a toothbrush like that, but now Chuck lets Erin brush his teeth with the Sonicare every day. Only the best for this guy!

These are just a few examples of the amazing behaviors that Chacoda has learned here at the Aquarium. Chacoda can be found living with the rest of our Atlantic harbor seal colony in their exhibit on the front plaza. Come by sometime to see a session. There are four each day and you never know what behaviors Chuck will be showing off!
~Patty