- 15 hours ago
Secrets of the Zoo: Down Under - Season 6 Episode 3 -
Seal Survey
Seal Survey
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00babies or animals but what if they're baby animals it was only born this
00:09morning on this all-new season welcome back to the ever-changing world of
00:16Taronga where you'll witness things you never thought possible you can actually
00:24hear her breathe and meet new faces oh hi buddy you'll never forget so good it's
00:32time to discover oh my god exactly who's who in this zoo on this episode Taronga's
00:46seal team launches we're gonna have a drone team fly over and count them hitting
00:51the skies the thermal camera on the drone actually shows the temperature of the
00:55animal and the sea they really blend in with the rocks in pursuit of their target
01:00there's one just there project pinata so we've got some large balls relax relax
01:07it's not what you think we are going to pop some kangaroo mints in each of these
01:13balls can you let the lions out now please and what's got two legs hungry buddy two
01:20hands blink to miles wheeler and is a truly rare species all right let's go
01:26did you guess Luke keeping is a bit of a side hustle for me
01:33beneath the tranquil waters of Taronga's seal cove something fishy is going on something very fishy
01:53so this is basically food prep 101 at Taronga's marine department here at Taronga we've got 16 seals so
02:07these are each of our fur seals diets for the day the variety of fish that we have obviously specific to
02:14that particular seal Abel and Bondi there be some seals and up above some seriously hungry seals are
02:36patiently waiting including one of Taronga's favorites
02:42that's Bondi he's one of our rescued New Zealand or long-nosed fur seals so these guys are a
02:48native species to Australia specifically these guys are found here in the on the East Coast
02:55Bondi here he was found on Bondi Beach so obviously that's where he got his name and when we found him he
03:04had a very severe injury down his left hand side these are the remnants of the scar all the way from
03:09down there back up to here the wound was consistent with a large shark it was touch and go for quite a
03:17while with Bondi but the main thing is he obviously survived Bondi was just a three-month-old pup when he
03:26was rescued but the extent of his injuries prevented him from ever being returned to the wild it's over
03:3610 years ago now that um Bondi came to us and since being here he has become a dad for a few times
03:43Bondi is doing his bit for a fur seal population that was once heading towards extinction back in the
03:55early 1900s these guys were actually hunted but they have banned seal hunting and as numbers continue
04:03to increase we're more likely to see these guys breeding in the Sydney in the Sydney area so
04:12obviously we're going to have more interactions with people these guys although cute and cuddly and
04:18usually quite relaxed will inflict injury into people especially when backed into a corner
04:23to better understand these interactions Taronga is keeping a very close eye on the seal populations
04:31in Sydney and beyond it's a really big important focus of ours to try and make sure these guys are in and
04:38around our environment for but not only now but obviously a long time to come isn't that right buddy
04:43so armed with Bondi's seal of approval Taronga is sending out one of their team on a statewide high-tech
04:57seal counting excursion the animals are the stars of Taronga's two zoos
05:07but they can't shine without the massive team of volunteers we're going to draw another hole we're in the other side and today's mission project pinata
05:21project pinata I'll give you a bit of a demonstration Liz a 15-year volunteer veteran and youth at the zoo volunteers Renee and Camilla are perfecting the art of paper mache
05:39smooth it out the more layers the better because it'll take them a lot longer time to destroy it if you only do one or two they'll just flick it and it'll be gone
05:52sure they might not be it's their birthday soon and Taronga's pride of lions can scarcely contain their excitement
06:02we have a beautiful family of seven lions here at Taronga zoo ato is the dad mayor the mum so she's our oldest lion then ato and maya had five beautiful cubs they've actually just turned three years of age
06:19when we first opened this enclosure the lines absolutely loved it and it took them quite a few months to really get used to all the little nooks and crannies the different terrain that we have but over time
06:32they come out and it's it's the same enclosure so it's our job then to make sure that we're providing something new and different to them every single day to keep it interesting so today we're going to give them pinatas
06:46these are fantastic this is going to be a really exciting day particularly for the younger ones so we've got some large balls we've got a watermelon because of course lions have watermelons in the wild
06:58we've got ibis as well good old australian native
07:02uh not those ones these ones also affectionately known as the bin chicken
07:10okay so now we are going to pop some kangaroo mints in each of these balls they've got lovely holes at the top already made for us so we're going to pop some food in there and that'll just add to the lion's joy this morning
07:26not only do they get to play with these rip them apart but then they're going to find some food
07:30inside them i think i'm going to use about that size that way it's a nice nice amount for
07:36a lion and maybe just should we just do one per ball yeah i'll do and any leftover rue mints we can hide it
07:43around the exhibit pulling the balls apart ripping them open and then finding some food inside that all mimics that
07:51kind of hunting stalking chasing prey behavior and which is so important for our lions that mints
07:58doesn't stand a chance and we've got two more to do well that's if those lions make it through liz's
08:05paper mache packaging first it's such an important part of our jobs just as important as the all the
08:12cleaning and feeding that we're doing is providing our animals with things that they would do exactly like
08:17they would do in the wild over at the new amphibian and reptile conservation center there are more than
08:2940 scaly and slithery species to care for
08:34hungry buddy and with all those bellies to fill feeding time is always a performance
08:52so this is our food prep room this is where we make all of our food for our animals so chopping salad
08:57and um collecting bugs crickets and wood roaches are on the menu
09:03it's not a bad office we get to play with all these amazing species and learn new things about
09:08them each time we come to work which is a real buzz i've been a casual reptile keeper here at
09:16toronga for nearly three years now as a reptile keeper my job is to look after different parts of
09:22the reptile collection look after all the animals that we've got off display
09:29these are our breeding pair of red bar dragons this is a male here with all of his bright
09:33blues and yellows and oranges and this is a female here the the you know dull gray brown and these guys
09:41have actually just finished their breeding season so the last couple of months there's been a lot of
09:45head bobbing and dancing around from him trying to get her attention and uh it paid off we got a
09:51little clutch of eggs out of him the other week which is really exciting
09:58yeah so this is five-year-old luke's dream job if you told him he'd be standing here
10:05being a reptile keeper for a living he'd be pretty stoked
10:08a new day link to miles wheeler go ahead luke herald's the start of a new shift for luke hey
10:20miles just leaving the hospital now to come down and check out the gecko and while the uniform's the
10:25same today's job couldn't be more different if we've got some time we'll do the basilisk as well
10:32i'm pretty lucky i get to wear two hats here at taronga keeping is you know a bit of a side hustle
10:38for me i've graduated uni a couple of years ago and now i'm working as a vet as well which is you know
10:44an even a bigger dream all right let's go we're just here to do a bit of a ray check on a rough
10:53knob-tailed gecko who's got some skin issues hello how are you doing yeah i'm good thank you very much
11:00now while taronga is known for caring for so many rare species i love this room this time
11:07the rare species is luke taronga's only keeper come vet so there's our little one that's been
11:15having a slight issue as you can see underneath yeah so it's a decent abrasion she's got there
11:21so this is our female knob-tailed gecko she's got a bit of an abrasion and ulceration on her on her
11:27belly i think we're dealing with a bit of a local infection there definitely hollow her in the belly
11:32like last time i saw her she was sitting quite deep we'll definitely stick with the flamazine
11:37yep but i might throw pain relief in the mix as well one of my favorite animals to work with
11:44they're just full of personality
11:49i think we're on the mend the amazing thing about working at taronga is the fact that it's such a big
11:54diverse collection
11:55and right on cue keeper uh vet luke is about to be faced with a much bigger challenge
12:07got a few lesions around his neck it looks like some sort of strangulation or crushing injury yeah
12:13definitely very critical still to come louise to georgia can you let the lions out now please a wild
12:22birthday surprise this is going to be a really exciting day and the mystery injury
12:28i'm not convinced we've still got a heartbeat threatening an aussie icon's life
12:36wildlife conservation is one of taronga's highest priorities and today's mission
12:43has taronga's animal behavior expert traveling to the sparkling waters of sydney's northern beaches
12:54we're here at baron joey to do a survey of the fur seals
12:57this is the first time we've ever surveyed the entire population of fur seals in new south wales
13:06for the last few years now there's been a growing haul out of seals here at baron joey
13:11a haul out is where you get seals coming and resting and while it's great to have them here they
13:16can be hauling out on places like boats or on people's front lawns and so there's potential
13:22for them to come into conflict with boat strike and entanglement in fishing gear hey jamie good
13:28all set yeah let's go
13:33it's great weather for it taronga has teamed up with the department of environment
13:39to learn more about seal and human interactions so now we need to know how many seals there are and
13:45where they're coming out along the coast so that we can manage those interactions
13:50this high-tech seal team are testing a new piece of kit designed to zero in on these hard to spot
13:58creatures we're going to have a drone team fly over and count them
14:07and then another team including myself are going to count the seals using binoculars
14:11so that we can compare the results that we're seeing from the drone and from the boat
14:16if the results match the drone will get the green light for future surveys
14:23but before they can count them they're gonna need to find them
14:29we're up here at pitwater which is about an hour north of the sydney cbd
14:33and it's it's around here on baron joey headland that the seals haul out isn't it you find them here
14:39at the western end of the headland and the reason for that is that they get protected from the
14:45predominant southeast swell and they're also protected from the wind it's a fantastic spot for
14:50them million dollar views these million dollar views come with a multi-million dollar price tag
14:58so do you reckon we actually start from this end or and work our way around or it's where sydney's
15:03elite come to relax and supposedly so do the seals yeah we've got two main focal areas with this uh
15:11shark crop we might as well go in and have a look and
15:15they're really cryptic aren't they they really blend in with the rocks well i did say supposedly
15:24they can also get in under the ledges sometimes yeah the brown of the fur seal
15:29it's a bit hard to tell here we go there's one just there
15:37and from the pacific ocean to taronga's great southern ocean habitat
15:44hey buddy keeper ben is paying a visit to one of australia's iconic ocean birds
15:54pelicans are found in most areas of australia especially along the coastline
16:00pelicans were never my favorite birds back before i started keeping but the first animals i
16:05ever really worked close with was these two boys yeah the way money and the more i got to work with
16:11them the more i got to see their incredible personalities good boy um yeah so in the morning
16:17when i'm coming in when you do see that wing flapping behavior that's a anticipation behavior
16:22oh buddy you look hungry that's them just getting really excited that they're about to eat
16:29hello handsome and who wouldn't be excited about a fresh seafood feast this morning we're just
16:36working on some tactile behaviors being able to check his entire body condition especially around
16:41his chest where his keel is so we can make sure that he's not going underweight
16:44okay come here buddy touch what we're really working towards with these guys is those cooperative
16:51care behaviors good boy touch good
16:58at the start they didn't trust me as much and i got to build through that rapport with them
17:01hey football having that trust and having that rapport with their trainer uh it removes stress
17:07from their environment good boy and an environment free of stress touch means these pelicans can live
17:14a very long good and fish-filled life both our two boys were born in human care in another facility
17:22and relocated to us about 16 years ago now but here at charonga being on the harbor we do get quite a lot
17:28of rescues coming into our wildlife hospital especially pelicans and seabirds in general
17:33taronga is sydney's largest catchment for seabird rehabilitation we do quite often get them coming
17:39in after being hit by a bow or caught in awkward positions and across at the wildlife hospital just
17:45trying to hear the heart that's exactly what has happened i'm a bit concerned he might have a neck injury
17:52with his vet hat firmly on today luke is treating an injured pelican brought in by a concerned member
18:01of the public he's had an accident fairly recently he was struggling to stand before there's a bit of
18:09swelling here and he's got this lesion here too this is a pelican that's found stuck between a few
18:15wharves so he's got a few lesions around his beak and the base of his neck there and given the
18:21lesions we're seeing around his face and neck it looks like some sort of either you know strangulation
18:26or crushing injury yeah definitely very critical i'm just going to induce his anesthetic now
18:37the wing itself feels okay the true extent of the pelican's injuries aren't obvious
18:44i don't think his pressure is very good and luke is concerned the bird might now be in shock
18:50which can cause dangerously low blood pressure
19:00just trying to hear the heart yeah it's hard to hear anything yeah
19:04i'm not convinced we've still got a heartbeat
19:19in taronga's african savannah plans are underway for a very big very proud pride party
19:28you know that's about all i can take three oh look at you legend all right so we have piñatas
19:37today for our lion family now how are we going to get through the door i've got fingers i've got
19:42fingers we've got this the lions are going to get very excited the moment they see us walk past them
19:46with these toys hey guys yep those lions look pretty excited they're literally beside themselves
19:59all right then we have to work out where we're going to put them all the lions love this they
20:05love these activities they just have to be spaced apart enough so that all the lions can
20:09separate yeah once we've put them out we're going to see running playful behaviors that's for mr atto
20:16our daddy lion who generally doesn't partake in enrichment he just usually goes and sits and
20:23watches out for his family we're going to see if we can stand the ibis up with every one of these
20:29piñatas stuffed full of juicy meat oh awesome love it this ibis is now technically a sitting duck
20:39we want to try and make this a little bit interesting for them
20:46our cubs are three years of age
20:51and while they look like they're fully grown they still are young at heart so
20:55enrichment activities like this really get them excited and they're the ones that i expect
21:01are going to oh is that going to stay that they're the ones that i expect are going to get the most
21:07benefit out of what we're doing today well certainly more than these paper mache birds
21:12oh there we go mr ibis is up the tree all right i think are we ready to go
21:17can you let the lions out now please off the northernmost tip of sydney taronga's animal
21:33behavior expert ben is on a seal counting mission they can also get in under the ledges sometimes it's the
21:41first step of a massive project to count the australian fur seal population across the entire state
21:49this time of year we're just about reaching the time the big males start heading south to the
21:53breeding colonies problem is so far he hasn't found any they're really cryptic aren't they they
21:59really blend in with the rocks here we go there's one just there oh and another there's several you
22:10can smell them as well you know they're here but yeah a bit whiffy so yeah we've got probably two
22:19slightly older individuals and one or two slightly younger ones while the seals natural camouflage does
22:27make them hard to spot among the rocks ben's seal team have come prepared armed with the very latest
22:36in surveillance technology need to do a little bit of setup on the drone
22:43i'm a drone pilot my job is to use this drone here which is a thermal drone
22:48and what we can do is put it in vantage points that you can't see from the ground or on a boat
22:57if the thermal technology works it will be a game changer making it much easier to keep track of
23:05australian fur seal populations along the coast there's a couple of cool tricks to help us find seals
23:12it can synchronize a color image with thermal image we can zoom in
23:17where a seal's camping out
23:23we're able to look and find seals that might be in the nooks and crannies around the rocks
23:31i found another seal here on the rocks and it's just hanging out having a snooze
23:36and the thermal camera on the drone actually shows the temperature of the animal
23:40it's currently 21 degrees and once we've confirmed an identification of the seal we can drop a pin
23:50on the drone just like this and the team in the boat can confirm if they have sighted the same seal or
23:57not so there's five there while the boat team are making their own count these two are definitely
24:05new zealand i haven't seen the face of the other one they spot a problem three fishermen are heading
24:12straight towards the seals the seals are here the seals are here you know i don't want to disturb them
24:20because we won't get our drone shots if they jump in the water
24:27they can sense him guys you're going to disturb them just go that way
24:33so just going to induce his anesthetic now vets luke and naomi are examining a critically injured wild
24:52pelican that's just been rushed in it was found stuck between a few wharves
24:57before they can treat the bird's injuries they need to assess its heart rate just trying to hear the
25:04heart yeah but there's a problem
25:10yeah anatomy's not our friend today they've got a bunch of air sacs that sit under the skin
25:16above the the bone and muscle and they're basically giant floaties that keep an otherwise
25:22giant heavy-bodied bird afloat when it's sitting on the water
25:27those giant floaties are making it difficult for luke to find the bird's heartbeat
25:34can be a bit tricky to hear
25:39i'll be happier once i get a decent trace the pelican's heart rate will help luke determine
25:44whether the bird is in shock and just how injured it might be we can always try a doppler on the wing
25:50yeah actually that'd be a good idea there's a vein here and this is a doppler machine so basically we'll
25:59turn the heartbeat into a noise that we can track his heartbeat with
26:03that's so difficult yeah i can't hear anything yeah i'm not convinced we've still got a heartbeat
26:16might have just been a bit too compromised yeah
26:19luke tries to locate a heartbeat one last time
26:30i'm getting 200. finally some good news okay yeah i'm getting a a steady 200 now
26:37the ocean bird's heartbeat is consistent and back in the normal range we'll take an x-ray
26:44at least of that neck so now the team can get on with the job and fully investigate the pelican's
26:50injuries i'm a bit suspicious we might find um a dislocation or fracture there we'll see what we can
26:58find on x-ray just to see what's going on in this region transferring to the gaseous circuit
27:03while an x-ray will give luke a much clearer picture of the pelican's long neck he'll first
27:09need to sedate it more deeply with an anesthetic gas normally we'd like to advance those tubes a
27:15fair way down there but right at his glottis here there's a bit of a membrane that pelicans have it's
27:21going to stop us going too much further the membrane stops water from passing down the pelican's throat
27:28but now it's stopping the anesthetic tube oh it's already slipped out again yeah they'll need a plan b
27:41on the barren joey peninsula on sydney's northern beaches guys the seals are here some wayward
27:49fishermen are getting too close to a herd of resting fur seals the seals are here you're going to disturb them
27:58if they jump in the water we won't get our drone shots
28:09and for taronga's ben and his partner agencies who are trying to count this seal population
28:15it's going to make a difficult job even more difficult down here there's no seals
28:22the fishermen sit on that flat rock just up there there must be a path sort of back on that flat
28:29rock so you're better off being here otherwise you're going to disturb them there's a track over
28:36that way apparently it's pretty pretty steep be careful come down this way but just go that way
28:44hey
28:51he's found a track yeah
28:55as the fishermen move away the skittish seals can finally relax one two three four five six seven
29:04and so can ben and the team and that goes nine
29:09yeah they've been quite active at the moment which is there's one in the water i've been looking
29:18it's important to keep your distance away from seals
29:23as the population is recovering one of the biggest pressures particularly around places like sydney
29:29is people loving seals to death and getting too close so when there is a seal hauled out it's really
29:35important to to keep your distance and 40 meters is is the good distance to stay away and also if
29:41you're walking your dog and there's a seal on the beach you want to keep your dog on a lead and keep
29:45it away from them as well their time on land is really important time for them to rest
29:5010 11. there's two further down as well i've counted 16. we'll have to see whether the drone picks up stuff that we're not seeing
30:08fur seals are experts at camouflage on land and in the water well there's one in the water is it
30:15but the drone's thermal camera is giving ben and the team an unfair advantage and so if we zoom in
30:22here we can actually see a seal that's currently in the water
30:28and so we can click on the map there and it tells me the temperature of the seal it stands out quite
30:34obviously in the thermal imagery the seals are so well insulated from the cooler water their body
30:40temperature makes it near impossible to hide from this eye in the sky drone technology's really become
30:48quite a valuable tool for scientists the beauty of having eyes in the sky is that we're able to map
30:54quite a larger area in locations where it's not feasible to bring a boat in enabling us to more
31:00accurately count the populations of seals in new south wales while the drone continues to locate
31:07even more seals ben moves on to phase two while we're here counting the seals we've also had a
31:15great opportunity to check out their general health and potential injuries and see whether
31:20there's any that might need some more attention and if they do find any injured fur seals they're
31:26definitely adults this survey mission might just become a rescue mission oh look at this one
31:32on the top of the rock he's got an old bite or something like that on the shores of sydney harbour
31:41taronga's african savannah is teeming with bird life
31:48no not those ones these ones
31:53louise to georgia stuffed full of minced meat the paper mache is in position
32:04and the lion pride are primed can you let the lions out now please
32:10let the enrichment games begin here they come
32:27so they're all running out exactly as i hope that they would excited running straight for the balls
32:32that we've put around
32:39what i love about maya the mum even though she's 12 years of age now she's running she's playing
32:48actually i thought one of the cubs might jump up there but she's showing them
32:51how to do it how to reach up how to grab those things out the tree
32:54and that's another behavior that we want to encourage because it's like
33:00mimics that catching prey in the wild and then them having to you know open the hide of the prey
33:05to be able to get to the meat putting out enrichment like this it really taps into a lot of those
33:12wild instincts that they retain they don't ever lose and they're showing us that right now
33:17and with their lookalike paper cousins getting all the attention
33:27i'd say these guys are winning too lazuko he's one of our young males and he's just spotted that ibis
33:34that's up the tree
33:39so what i'm expecting now is that they've expended lots of energy and they'll most likely do what all
33:46cats do and they'll go and sleep the rest of the day away
33:52in the wild they would do the same thing they would hunt they would feed
33:55and then they would rest and that's exactly what our lion family all starting to do now
34:02so this has been a really really successful day and as you can see the lions have had an incredible
34:07amount of fun so actually there is an ibis still sitting there so they haven't even noticed it
34:14but i guarantee by the end of today it'll definitely be gone but for now this particular bin chicken
34:21lives to fight another day at taronga's wildlife hospital a very sick wild pelican has been brought
34:30in to treatment room one i'm a bit suspicious we might find a dislocation or a fracture there
34:35and luke a part-time taronga keeper and vet is investigating its injuries it's definitely a
34:43unique approach to be both a keeper and a vet right at his glottis here there's a bit of a
34:50membrane that pelicans have it's going to stop us going too much further the bird's anatomy is preventing
34:56luke from passing a tube down its throat so they can administer an anesthetic gas oh it's already slipped
35:03out again next door is a new pelican mask you want to do that instead that might be the go
35:12wow that's awesome yeah right exotic medicine 101. while it does look a little exotic this
35:21homemade mask is perfect for this long-billed native bird it's a nice big deep breath there yeah
35:29and get him on his side yeah sure great help his air sucks turning the pelican on its side helps keep
35:38the bird's airway clear making it easier to inhale the anesthetic turn the house lights off
35:48x-ray
35:57you can see a bit of what looks like possibly bruising on the x-ray
36:00it's just kind of increased whiteness here it's just an indication there's more fluid in the site
36:06so it's pretty consistent with bruising bruising has shown up on the pelican's neck muscles close to
36:13the skin and that bruising we're talking about
36:19given that he was found not really being able to use his hind end i'm pretty suspicious we do have a
36:24spinal cord lesion a spinal cord injury can be difficult to assess on the x-ray
36:32trying to come down slightly but the bruising and the bird's difficulty walking suggest the delicate
36:40cord has also been damaged the thing about prognosis with spinal lesions is that in a bird this size
36:48the nursing care will be quite difficult particularly given his anatomy we're not going to be able to
36:54immobilize that neck and keep it safe say like a cat or a dog
36:59luke decrease in play luke radios vet creason for a second opinion
37:08i'm not seeing a lot of displacement of the spine but i don't think that rules out a spinal cord injury
37:13yeah we've definitely still got that you know soft tissue swelling yeah what do we say with any spinal
37:22energy it can take a few weeks to months to years to sort of come right and unfortunately with this guy
37:32the kindest thing to do with b2 it's going to be euthanasia unfortunately sorry about that yeah
37:39the pelican's injuries are too severe for it to make a recovery
37:50yeah it's not an easy call to make it's not something we take lightly
37:57but um we're really lucky in veterinary medicine that we have euthanasia as an option
38:01it's you know essentially an anesthetic overdose so he will just drop into a really deep sleep
38:06and eventually his heart will stop and you know it's a very humane and peaceful process
38:15it doesn't get easier but i think i think we'd all feel worse if we didn't have it as an option
38:23it's in his best interest if we put him to sleep rather than let them suffer
38:34next the results are in i wouldn't have been surprised today if we'd only found
38:45half a dozen to maybe 10 seals and it's not what anyone expected
38:50on sydney's beautiful coastline taronga and its partners have begun the state's largest ever fur seal
39:01survey counting and assessing the health of this seal population from the air the seal is a lot hotter
39:10than the water around it and from the sea
39:14we can see them over here resting in the water where they lay on their side and they stick their
39:20flipper up and they sometimes grab onto their their rear flipper as well and that's really important
39:24for them because they swim incredibly long distances thousands of kilometers at a time without
39:30going back to land for a rest and so they they need to be able to rest on the surface of the ocean it
39:36also lets them regulate their temperature their body temperature as well by sticking their flipper up
39:41they can get a nice breeze across that and they can bask in the sun so they're really really well
39:47adapted to being at sea for almost all of their life oh and look at this one on the top of the rock
39:56it's like a bite or something like that this is a little youngster just here too
40:00so one year old yeah like a little juvenile on the main roll yeah i think there's three of probably
40:11this year's pups really on the on the rock yeah like the one right up on the very top yeah that's
40:17this year's part okay they all look like they're in great condition their coats look really nice
40:24really good body condition they're all looking fairly plump which is nice to see there was one
40:31animal that had a small old cookie cutter shark bite on it that had healed up nicely but all the seals
40:38are in tip-top condition they've obviously been foraging quite well over the winter the size and health
40:45of this particular seal herd has surprised even this salty skipper six years ago there were none here
40:53we've got two more animals up here yeah actually three more
40:59and with the new addition of the drones ben and the team have really sealed the deal we collected lots
41:06of great information so we'll be rolling out this drone technology at multiple seal colonies so that
41:13we're able to get more of a spread of information of how many seals are visiting different locations
41:20that'll help us really understand what pressures they might be under and what their populations are
41:25like at the moment and as we move to other locations the drones will really provide a lot of value
41:34enabling us to more accurately count the populations of seals in new south wales
41:39now it's time to process some of the images that we've captured and try and confirm some of the
41:47counts that the team on the boat were able to capture
41:53honestly i wouldn't have been surprised today if we'd only found half a dozen to maybe 10 seals
42:00we actually counted 27 seals accounted for just a few thousand to go but that's a survey for another day
42:16yes that was a good day great day yeah we uh count a lot of seals
42:20this survey today is the first of many to come with seals returning to the coastline in new south
42:30wales we're going to be seeing them on our beaches all the time so the best advice for people is if you
42:36do see them keep your distance stay that 40 meters away from them if you're walking your dog keep your
42:41dog on a leash but if you do see an injured or an entangled seal call through to the authorities and
42:47people like national parks and the zoo will be able to go and assist that seal and hopefully
42:52rehabilitate it and get it back out into the wild more than what i was expecting to see
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