Maritime Aquarium Welcomes 2 New Harbor Seals

NORWALK, CT — Two new harbor seals took up residence at the Maritime Aquarium's Pinniped Cove exhibit earlier this year and have already become beloved members of the facility's seal family.

Feisty, a gentle 33-year-old male, and Gracie, a brave 20-year-old female, were introduced into the exhibit last month after arriving from ABQ BioPark in New Mexico.

Senior Trainer Dylan Salamone, who has worked at the Maritime Aquarium for nearly two years, noted Feisty and Gracie had lived at ABQ BioPark for the majority of their lives.

"We were honored that we were selected to take them in," Salamone said to Patch. "The BioPark was extremely happy about it as well. We went out and visited them, set up their transport and then brought them over here."

Both seals came to the aquarium with distinctive personalities.

"Gracie's extremely curious. She loves to check out the back [of the exhibit]," Salamone said. "Feisty is a gentle giant. He's a big boy and he kind of has his spots that he goes to. They've both been doing great."

Feisty was born in human care at the Denver Zoo and is only the second male harbor seal to call the Maritime Aquarium home in its 35-year history.

Gracie was rescued off the coast of Maine after suffering an injury to her optic nerve that left her unable to survive in the wild.

"She had her optical nerve severed," Salamone said. "Because of that, we think she might be able to decipher some shadowing, but in all reality she can't really see much at all."

Feisty is also blind due to eye issues developed as a result of his longer-than-average lifespan. The Maritime Aquarium's history of working with blind animals, as well as the size of Pinniped Cove, was a major factor in bringing both seals to Norwalk.

"They get around no problem though...their whiskers are not like your typical cat's or dog's whiskers," Salamone said. "Each one has their own nerve ending, so even though they can't see, they can feel all the vibrations in the water and that's how they are able to navigate with no problem."

Following a 30-day quarantine period, both seals were able to join the aquarium's five other seals, Rasal, Ariel, Polly, Tillie and Leila, and can be seen swimming together in the exhibit or on display during daily seal training demonstrations.

"Everybody's been doing extremely well," Salamone said. "We were very shocked and happy with how well it went and how fast it went. They've been acclimating fine and learning the rock work [in the exhibit]. Again, being that they're blind, they have to kind of map things out and create that internal catalogue of what is where and where they are at in the exhibit."

As they continue to settle in at their new home, Salamone noted guests have been enjoying seeing new additions to the aquarium's largest exhibit.

"There's been a lot of rapid growth and expansion in the past couple years here at the facility, and this goes right in hand with it," Salamone said. "It's the first time we've had new seals here since 2005, and the community's been really excited about seeing them."