The first thing visitors see when arriving at the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach is the outdoor harbor seal exhibit.
Hector, Rudder and Javier call the space home, showing off their swimming skills for all to see.
A new weekly tour at the aquarium allows people to go behind the scenes to the other, indoor side of the exhibit where the seals eat, play and train.
“What I hope that people get out of this tour is just a love and appreciation for harbor seals,” said program educator Dorothy Schetzel. “It's not every day you get to see these animals up close and personal, and so these tours really highlight their personalities.”
The aquarium launched its harbor seal exhibit in 1996. Currently, Hector is its oldest resident, a 20-year-old who came from SeaWorld Orlando “and can often be found sleeping upside down in a corner of the exhibit,” according to the aquarium’s website.
Javier is the youngest, coming to Virginia Beach from the Long Island Aquarium in 2022 after being born the year before.
Rudder, an 11-year-old seal, is the only rescue. He was found injured on a beach in Brigantine, New Jersey and treated by the local Marine Mammal Center. He could not be released because of an injured flipper that was partially paralyzed.
Monty, a seal who came to the aquarium in 2021, died late last year during a diagnostic procedure for which he’d been sedated.
On this week’s tour, Schetzel explained some facts about harbor seals: They eat fish and squid, not by chewing but by “grabbing and swallowing” their food; their eyes are large to help them scan for food and predator sharks; their whiskers are highly sensitive and twisted to take in information about their surroundings.
Behind the scenes at the seal exhibit, Javier was swimming excitedly, sending waves of water over the fenced enclosure.
It was almost time for a formal training session.
Sarah Dawson, assistant curator of mammals, said the daily training is meant to provide mental and physical exercise for the animals.
“Everything we ask them to do is completely voluntary,” Dawson said. “If they choose not to participate, that's fine. They can refuse the behavior and that's completely OK.”
The team directed the seals to wave with their flipper, “hide” by placing a flipper to shield their face, make grunting noises and strike a “banana” pose, where they raise their heads and flippers in a position resembling a banana.
The seals quickly chomped their fishy rewards and then flopped back outside.
Dawson said it’s illegal to approach or touch a harbor seal in the wild because they are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. If you come across a stranded seal, you can call the aquarium’s 24-hour Stranding Response Hotline at 757-385-7575.
The seal tours are held on Thursday mornings at 9:45 a.m. for $55 per participant, separate from the aquarium’s general admission fee.
