This video shows an example of grooming. Ursula, one of our female northern fur seals, is showing off her ability to keep her fur coat in great shape. Maintaining your fur takes a lot of effort when you have 300,000 hairs per square inch!
Marine Mammal Trainers
Showing posts with label warmth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label warmth. Show all posts
5/2/08
#3: Warm Flippers
Check out this very cool fur seal behavior. It is called jug handling and provides fur seals with a method of regulating their body temperature. The seals have many veins running through their flippers and these veins contain a heated blood supply. By tucking their flippers together, like the above pictures, the seals keep the heat from rapidly leaving their flippers. By stretching their flippers out, into the air, they release heat at a faster pace. In addition to the importance of this behavior, it's also a lot of fun to watch!
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