Sarah Weber Observation 2

The Gray Seal at Lincoln Park Zoo revealed information relating to all animals at the zoo. Through observation the solitude seal seemed, like many animals at the zoo, to pace back and forth. By talking with one of the zoo-keepers I learned that the seal had a companion that recently passed. The zoo-keeper said the two seals didn't interact too often and were independent. The remaining seal's behavior did not changed noticeably the zoo-keeper reported. When I began to research online I found that she was right that gray seals do often live solitarily but often when living amongst other gray seals will form groups. During the 'Enrichment', an interactive time between the zoo-keeper and seal, the most positive behavior of the seal was witnessed. I saw the seal's respond happily to touch and feeding. The commentary during the 'Enrichment' was that this is entirely a positive rewarding time for the seal that is voluntary based on the seal, and is mainly to help train the seal for times of medical check ups not intended for crowd entertainment. The zoo-keeper also revealed that this zoo is essentially a retirement home for animals to be kept comfortable while entering the next stage of life. The Lincoln Park Zoo's website has a page specifically for their remaining Gray Seal. The zoo-keeper also shared an anecdote of the seal trying to break into the kitchen. Although, a cute story it somewhat reminded me of zoo animals being over weight compared to when found in the wild. Overall, I felt the Gray Seal was happy and the zoo-keeper honest and nice. Can't wait for my second interview!

-Sarah W