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http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/..._elephant_081122/20081122?hub=BritishColumbia
Rare seal discovery baffles B.C. scientists
ctvbc.ca
Chelsea Stanley and her colleagues from the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo, B.C. got a call earlier this week about some sort of mammal found on a nearby beach. When they got a closer look, they were quite shocked.
"I was taken aback definitely," says Stanley. "We thought it was going to be a stellar sea lion which is more common around here."
What they actually found is much rarer -- a northern elephant seal.
"It's the largest piniped, so the largest sea or sea lion in the North Pacific," says University of British Columbia marine mammal researcher Andrew Trites.
For scientists the discovery of the two-tonne, 13-foot adult elephant seal goes beyond the wow factor. The extraordinary find has marine biologists across the country buzzing.
"The elephant seals breed in Mexico and they breed in California, they don't breed in British Columbia," says Trites. "The animals do make an annual migration up to Alaska, but they don't stop off in the Georgia Strait, so to find one here -- particularly this age and size -- it's really rare."
"I've never seen or even heard of it before," he says.
The discovery of the seal is somewhat of a mystery. Scientists aren't sure if the animal is simply a wayward seal that lost its way or a sign that a species nearly hunted to extinction is making a comeback on the west coast.
They won't know for sure until they examine the seal and perform a necropsy later this week.
But with such a unique opportunity, scientists hope to unravel the mystery of this giant specimen and what its presence here means for the B.C. marine ecosystem.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Stephen Smart
http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=74ea80eb-2cb6-4d40-b81d-038f9f29eed7
Huge mystery seal washes ashore in Departure Bay
UBC researchers will determine cause of death
Krista Charke
Daily News
Sunday, November 23, 2008
CREDIT: Krista Charke/Daily News
A dead elephant seal weighing upwards of 2.5 tons and four metres in length was towed to Brechin boat launch in Nanaimo on Saturday.
The mystery of a dead northern elephant seal that washed up on the shores of Nanaimo's Departure Bay Beach will be unraveled by marine mammal scientists in Vancouver.
Nanaimo's auxiliary coast guard was called in to help remove the carcass of a male seal more than four metres long and weighing in excess of 2,000 kilograms off the beach on Thursday.
They towed the mammal a short distance to the Pacific Biological Station, where it was kept safe until researchers could figure out their next move. Andrew Trites, professor and director of the Marine Mammal Research Unit at the University of British Columbia, jumped at the opportunity to study the mammoth mammal rarely seen in the waters off British Columbia.
The elephant seal shows no clear cause of death.
Scientists hope a necropsy at UBC will deliver enough information to determine what killed it no more than six days ago. Its stomach contents will be examined, the kidneys and lungs will be examined for disease and it will undergo several toxicology tests.
"(To figure out why it died) will be the easy part. The most difficult part is just getting a species like this," said Trites, who has never come across a dead elephant seal.
Northern elephant seals usually keep well offshore, usually more than 8,000 kilometres, when they migrate as far north as Alaska from California. The seals return to their southern breeding grounds between December and January. The only time they come ashore is down south when they breed, give birth and molt.
Researchers from the PBS towed the seal to Brechin Boat Launch, where it was floated onto a boat trailer to be taken over to Vancouver on Saturday.
After all the test are complete, the skeleton will be buried in the ocean for small sea creatures to clean the rest of the flesh off the bones. This process could take up to one year.
The ultimate fate for the elephant seal will be to have its skeleton rebuilt and put on display for the public to see in UBC's museum by 2011.
KCharke@nanaimodailynews.com
250-729-4245
© The Daily News (Nanaimo) 2008
Jim's Fishing Charters
www.JimsFishing.com
http://ca.youtube.com/user/Sushihunter250
Rare seal discovery baffles B.C. scientists
ctvbc.ca
Chelsea Stanley and her colleagues from the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo, B.C. got a call earlier this week about some sort of mammal found on a nearby beach. When they got a closer look, they were quite shocked.
"I was taken aback definitely," says Stanley. "We thought it was going to be a stellar sea lion which is more common around here."
What they actually found is much rarer -- a northern elephant seal.
"It's the largest piniped, so the largest sea or sea lion in the North Pacific," says University of British Columbia marine mammal researcher Andrew Trites.
For scientists the discovery of the two-tonne, 13-foot adult elephant seal goes beyond the wow factor. The extraordinary find has marine biologists across the country buzzing.
"The elephant seals breed in Mexico and they breed in California, they don't breed in British Columbia," says Trites. "The animals do make an annual migration up to Alaska, but they don't stop off in the Georgia Strait, so to find one here -- particularly this age and size -- it's really rare."
"I've never seen or even heard of it before," he says.
The discovery of the seal is somewhat of a mystery. Scientists aren't sure if the animal is simply a wayward seal that lost its way or a sign that a species nearly hunted to extinction is making a comeback on the west coast.
They won't know for sure until they examine the seal and perform a necropsy later this week.
But with such a unique opportunity, scientists hope to unravel the mystery of this giant specimen and what its presence here means for the B.C. marine ecosystem.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Stephen Smart
http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=74ea80eb-2cb6-4d40-b81d-038f9f29eed7
Huge mystery seal washes ashore in Departure Bay
UBC researchers will determine cause of death
Krista Charke
Daily News
Sunday, November 23, 2008
CREDIT: Krista Charke/Daily News
A dead elephant seal weighing upwards of 2.5 tons and four metres in length was towed to Brechin boat launch in Nanaimo on Saturday.
The mystery of a dead northern elephant seal that washed up on the shores of Nanaimo's Departure Bay Beach will be unraveled by marine mammal scientists in Vancouver.
Nanaimo's auxiliary coast guard was called in to help remove the carcass of a male seal more than four metres long and weighing in excess of 2,000 kilograms off the beach on Thursday.
They towed the mammal a short distance to the Pacific Biological Station, where it was kept safe until researchers could figure out their next move. Andrew Trites, professor and director of the Marine Mammal Research Unit at the University of British Columbia, jumped at the opportunity to study the mammoth mammal rarely seen in the waters off British Columbia.
The elephant seal shows no clear cause of death.
Scientists hope a necropsy at UBC will deliver enough information to determine what killed it no more than six days ago. Its stomach contents will be examined, the kidneys and lungs will be examined for disease and it will undergo several toxicology tests.
"(To figure out why it died) will be the easy part. The most difficult part is just getting a species like this," said Trites, who has never come across a dead elephant seal.
Northern elephant seals usually keep well offshore, usually more than 8,000 kilometres, when they migrate as far north as Alaska from California. The seals return to their southern breeding grounds between December and January. The only time they come ashore is down south when they breed, give birth and molt.
Researchers from the PBS towed the seal to Brechin Boat Launch, where it was floated onto a boat trailer to be taken over to Vancouver on Saturday.
After all the test are complete, the skeleton will be buried in the ocean for small sea creatures to clean the rest of the flesh off the bones. This process could take up to one year.
The ultimate fate for the elephant seal will be to have its skeleton rebuilt and put on display for the public to see in UBC's museum by 2011.
KCharke@nanaimodailynews.com
250-729-4245
© The Daily News (Nanaimo) 2008
Jim's Fishing Charters
www.JimsFishing.com
http://ca.youtube.com/user/Sushihunter250
