- 5 hours ago
Taronga: Who’s Who In The Zoo - 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 alrighty let's go did
01:27you guess Luke keeping is a bit of a side hustle for me
01:32beneath 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 first 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
02:33seriously hungry seals are patiently waiting including one of Taronga's
02:40favorites that's Bondi he's one of our rescued New Zealand or long-nosed fur seals so
02:48these guys are a native species to Australia specifically these guys are
02:53found here in the on the East Coast well no yeah he was found on Bondi Beach so obviously that's
03:01where he got his name and when we found him he had a very severe injury down his left-hand side
03:06these are the remnants of the scar all the way from down there back up to here the wound was
03:13consistent with a large shark it was touch and go for quite a while with Bondi but the main thing is
03:20he obviously survived Bondi was just a three-month-old pup when he was rescued but the extent of his
03:30injuries prevented him from ever being returned to the wild it's over 10 years ago now that Bondi came
03:38to us and since being here he has become a dad for a few times Bondi is doing his bit for a
03:49fur seal population that was once heading towards extinction back in the early 1900s these guys
03:57were actually hunted but they have banned seal hunting and as numbers continue to increase we're
04:05more likely to see these guys breeding in the Sydney in the Sydney area so obviously we're going to have
04:12more interactions with people these guys although cute and cuddly and usually quite relaxed will inflict
04:20injury into people especially when backed into a corner to better understand these interactions
04:26Taronga is keeping a very close eye on the seal populations in Sydney and beyond it's a really big
04:34important focus of ours to try and make sure these guys are in and around our environment for but not
04:40only now but obviously a long time to come isn't that right buddy so armed with Bondi's seal of
04:51approval Taronga is sending out one of their team on a statewide high-tech seal counting excursion
04:59the animals are the stars of Taronga's two zoos but they can't shine without the massive team of
05:13volunteers you really draw another hole around the other side and today's mission project pinata I'll give
05:25you a bit of a demonstration Liz a 15-year volunteer veteran and youth at the zoo volunteers Renee and
05:35Camilla are perfecting the art of paper mache smooth it out the more layers the better because
05:44it'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
05:52be gone sure they might not be wrangling a rhinoceros but perfect pinata preparation can be just as hairy
06:01these are for the lions it's their birthday soon and Taronga's pride of lions can scarcely contain their
06:12excitement we have a beautiful family of seven lions here at Taronga Zoo Atto is the dad mayor the mum so
06:21she's our oldest lion then Atto and mayor had five beautiful cubs they've actually just turned three
06:29years of age when we first open this enclosure the lines absolutely loved it and it took them quite a
06:36few months to really get used to all the little nooks and crannies the different terrain that we have
06:41but over time they come out and it's the it's the same enclosure so it's our job then to make sure that
06:47we're providing something new and different to them every single day to keep it interesting so today we're
06:54going to give them pinatas these are fantastic this is going to be a really exciting day particularly for the
07:01younger ones so we've got some large balls we've got a watermelon because of course lions have watermelons
07:07in the wild we've got ibis as well good old Australian native not those ones these ones also affectionately
07:18known as the bin chicken okay so now we are going to pop some kangaroo mints in each of these balls
07:27they've got lovely holes at the top already made for us so we're going to pop some food in there and
07:32and that'll just add to the lion's joy this morning not only do they get to play with these rip them
07:38apart but then they're going to find some food inside them i think i'm going to use about that
07:43size that way it's a nice nice amount for a lion and maybe just should we just do one per ball yeah
07:50i'll do and any left over rue mints we can hide it around the exhibit pulling the balls apart ripping
07:57them open and then finding some food inside that all mimics that kind of hunting stalking chasing
08:03prey behavior and which is so important for our lions that mints doesn't stand a chance we've got
08:10two more to do well that's if those lions make it through liz's paper mache packaging first it's such
08:17an important part of our jobs just as important as the all the cleaning and feeding that we're doing
08:24is providing our animals with things that they would do exactly like they would do in the wild
08:33over at the new amphibian and reptile conservation center
08:38there are more than 40 scaly and slithery species to care for
08:44hungry buddy and with all those bellies to fill feeding time is always a performance
09:02so this is our food prep room this is where we make all of our food for our animals so chopping salad and
09:07um collecting bugs crickets and wood roaches are on the menu it's not a bad office we get to play with
09:16all these amazing species and learn new things about them each time we come to work which is a real buzz
09:23i've been a casual reptile keeper here at torumba for nearly three years now as a reptile keeper my job is
09:30to look after different parts of the reptile collection look after all the animals that we've got off
09:36display these are our breeding pair of red bar dragons this is a male here with all of his bright
09:43blues and yellows and oranges and this is a female here the the you know duller gray brown and these
09:51guys have actually just finished their breeding season so the last couple of months there's been a
09:55lot of head bobbing and dancing around from him trying to get her attention and uh it paid off we
10:00got a little clutch of eggs out of them the other week which is really exciting
10:08yeah so this is five-year-old luke's dream job if you told him he'd be standing here
10:15being a reptile keeper for a living he'd be pretty stoked
10:18a new day luke to miles wheeler heralds the start of a new shift for luke hey miles just
10:30leaving the hospital now to come down and check out the get-go and while the uniform's the same
10:35today's job couldn't be more different we've got some time we'll do the basilisk as well i'm pretty
10:43lucky i get to wear two hats here at taronga keeping is you know a bit of a side hustle for
10:48me i've graduated uni a couple of years ago and now i'm working as a vet as well which is you know
10:54an even a bigger dream all righty let's go we're just here to do a bit of a recheck on a rough
11:02nob-tailed gecko who's got some skin issues hello and luke good how are you doing yeah i'm good thank
11:08you very much now while taronga is known for caring for so many rare species i love this room this time
11:17the rare species is luke taronga's only keeper cum vet so there's our little one that's been having
11:25a slight issue as you can see underneath yeah so it's a decent abrasion she's got there so this is
11:32our female knob-tailed gecko she's got a bit of an abrasion and ulceration on her on her belly i think
11:37we're dealing with a bit of a local infection there definitely hollow in the belly like last
11:42time i saw her she was sitting quite deep we'll definitely stick with the flammazine yep but i
11:49might throw pain relief in the mix as well one of my favorite animals to work with they're just full of
11:54personality i think we're on the mend the amazing thing about working at taronga is the fact that
12:03it's such a big diverse collection and right on cue keeper uh uh vet luke is about to be faced with a
12:14much bigger challenge got a few lesions around his neck it looks like some sort of strangulation or
12:21crushing injury yeah definitely very critical still to come louise to georgia can you let the lions out
12:30now please a wild birthday surprise this is going to be a really exciting day and the mystery injury
12:38i'm not convinced we've still got a heartbeat threatening an aussie icon's life
12:46wildlife conservation is one of taronga's highest priorities
12:51and today's mission has taronga's animal behavior expert traveling to the sparkling waters of sydney's
12:59northern beaches
13:04we're here at baron joey to do a survey of the fur seals
13:09this is the first time we've ever surveyed the entire population of fur seals in new south wales
13:16for the last few years now there's been a growing haul out of seals here at baron joey a haul out is
13:22where you get seals coming and resting and while it's great to have them here they can be hauling out
13:27on places like boats or on people's front lawns and so there's potential for them to come into
13:33conflict with boat strike and entanglement in fishing gear hey ben jamie good yeah yeah great yeah let's go
13:42it's great weather for it
13:44taronga has teamed up with the department of environment to learn more about seal and human
13:51interactions so now we need to know how many seals there are and where they're coming out along the
13:57coast so that we can manage those interactions this high-tech seal team are testing a new piece of kit
14:05designed to zero in on these hard to spot creatures
14:11we're going to have a drone team fly over and count them
14:17and then another team including myself are going to count the seals using binoculars
14:21so that we can compare the results that we're seeing from the drone and from the boat
14:25if the results match the drone will get the green light for future surveys but before they can count
14:34them they're gonna need to find them we're up here at pitwater which is about an hour north of the
14:42sydney cbd and it's it's around here on baron joey headland that the seals haul out isn't it you find
14:48them here at the western end of the headland and the reason for that is that they um get protected from
14:54the predominant southeast swell and they're also protected from the wind it's a fantastic spot for
15:00them million dollar views these million dollar views come with a multi-million dollar price tag
15:08so do you reckon we actually start from this end or and work our way around or it's where
15:13sydney's elite come to relax and supposedly so do the seals yeah we've got two main focal areas with
15:20this uh shark crop we might as well go in and have a look and they're really cryptic aren't they they
15:29really blend in with the rocks well i did say supposedly they can also get in under the ledges
15:36sometimes yeah the brown of the fur seal it's a bit hard to tell
15:40here we go there's one just there and from the pacific ocean to taronga's great southern ocean habitat
15:54hey buddy keeper ben is paying a visit to one of australia's iconic ocean birds
16:04pelicans are found in most areas of australia especially along the coastline
16:11pelicans were never my favorite birds back before i started keeping but the first animals i ever
16:16really worked close with was these two boys out of the way money and the more i got to work with
16:21them the more i got to see their incredible personalities good boy um yeah so in the morning
16:27when i'm coming in when you do see that wing flapping behavior that's a anticipation behavior
16:32oh buddy you look hungry that's them just getting really excited that they're about to eat
16:39hello handsome and who wouldn't be excited about a fresh seafood feast this morning we're just working
16:46on some tactile behaviors being able to check his entire body condition especially around his chest
16:51where his keel is so we can make sure that he's not going underweight come here buddy
16:57touch what we're really working towards with these guys is those cooperative care behaviors
17:03good boy touch good
17:08at the start they didn't trust me as much and i got to build through that rapport with them
17:13having that trust and having that rapport with their trainer it removes stress from their environment
17:18good boy and an environment free of stress touch means these pelicans can live a very long good and
17:27fish-filled life both our two boys were born in human care in another facility and relocated to us
17:33about 16 years ago now but here at taronga being on the harbor we do get quite a lot of rescues coming
17:39into our wildlife hospital especially pelicans and seabirds in general taronga is sydney's largest
17:45catchment for seabird rehabilitation we do quite often get them coming in after being hit by a
17:50bow or caught in awkward positions and across at the wildlife hospital just trying to hear the heart
17:56that's exactly what has happened i'm a bit concerned he might have a neck injury
18:03with his vet hat firmly on today luke is treating an injured pelican brought in by a concerned member of
18:11the public he's had an accident fairly recently he was struggling to stand before there's a bit of
18:19swelling here and he's got this lesion here too this is a pelican that's found stuck between a few
18:24wharves so he's got a few lesions around his beak and the base of his neck there and given the lesions
18:32we're seeing around his face and neck it looks like some sort of either you know strangulation or
18:36crushing injury yeah definitely very critical i'm just going to induce his anesthetic now
18:47the wing itself feels okay the true extent of the pelican's injuries aren't obvious i don't think
18:54his pressure is very good and luke is concerned the bird might now be in shock which can cause
19:01dangerously low blood pressure just trying to hear the heart yeah it's hard to hear anything yeah
19:14i'm not convinced we've still got a heartbeat
19:29in taronga's african savannah plans are underway for a very big very proud pride party
19:38you know that's about all i can take three oh look at you legend all right so we have piñatas
19:47today for our lion family now how are we going to get through the door i've got fingers i've got
19:52fingers we got this the lions are going to get very excited the moment they see us walk past them with
19:56these toys hey guys you guys have got this yep those lions look pretty excited they're literally beside
20:06themselves all right then we have to work out where we're going to put them all the lions love this
20:14they love these activities they just have to be spaced apart enough so that all the lions can
20:20separate yeah once we've put them out we're going to see running playful behaviors that's for mr atto
20:26our daddy lion who generally doesn't partake in enrichment he just usually goes and sits and
20:33watches out for his family we're going to see if we can stand the ibis up with every one of these
20:39piñatas stuffed full of juicy meat oh awesome love it this ibis is now technically a sitting duck
20:49we want to try and make this a little bit interesting for them
20:51our cubs are three years of age
21:00and while they look like they're fully grown they still are young at heart so enrichment activities
21:06like this really get them excited and they're the ones that i expect are going to oh is that going to
21:13stay that they're the ones that i expect are going to get the most benefit out of what we're doing today
21:18well certainly more than these paper mache birds oh there we go mr ibis is up the tree all right
21:26i think are we ready to go
21:34can you let the lions out now please
21:39off the northernmost tip of sydney taronga's animal behavior expert ben is on a seal counting mission
21:47they can also get in under the ledges sometimes it's the first step of a massive project to count
21:54the australian fur seal population across the entire state this time of year we're just about
22:00reaching the time the big males start heading south to the breeding colonies problem is so far he hasn't
22:07found any they're really cryptic aren't they they really blend in with the rocks
22:10here we go there's one just there
22:17oh and another there's several you can smell them as well you know they're here but yeah
22:24bit whiffy so yeah we've got probably two slightly older individuals and one or two
22:32slightly younger ones while the seals natural camouflage does make them hard to spot among the
22:39rocks ben's seal team have come prepared armed with the very latest in surveillance technology
22:49need to do a little bit of setup on the drone
22:53i'm a drone pilot my job is to use this drone here which is a thermal drone
22:58and what we can do is put it in vantage points that you can't see from the ground or on a boat
23:07if the thermal technology works it will be a game changer making it much easier to keep track of
23:15australian fur seal populations along the coast there's a couple of cool tricks to help us find seals
23:22it can synchronize a color image with thermal image we can zoom in where a seal's camping out
23:33we're able to look and find seals that might be in the nooks and crannies around the rocks
23:40i found another seal here on the rocks and it's just hanging out having a snooze
23:45and the thermal camera on the drone actually shows the temperature of the animal it's currently 21
23:52degrees and once we've confirmed an identification of the seal we can drop a pin on the drone just like
24:01this and the team in the boat can confirm if they have sighted the same seal or not
24:08so there's five there while the boat team are making their own count these two are definitely
24:15new zealand i haven't seen the face of the other one they spot a problem three fishermen are heading
24:22straight towards the seals the seals are here the seals are here you know i don't want to disturb
24:30them because we won't get our drone shots if they jump in the water
24:33they can sense him guys you're going to disturb them just go that way
24:52actaronga's wildlife hospital so just going to induce his anesthetic now vets luke and naomi
25:00are examining a critically injured wild pelican that's just been rushed in it was found stuck
25:06between a few wharves before they can treat the bird's injuries they need to assess its heart rate
25:14just trying to hear the heart yeah but there's a problem
25:20the anatomy's not our friend today they've got a bunch of air sacs that sit under the skin
25:25above the bone and muscle and they're basically giant floaties that keep an otherwise giant heavy
25:33bodied bird afloat when it's sitting on the water those giant floaties are making it difficult for luke
25:41to find the bird's heartbeat can be a bit tricky to hear
25:45i'll be happier once i get a decent trace the pelican's heart rate will help luke determine
25:54whether the bird is in shock and just how injured it might be we can always try a doppler on the wing
26:01yeah actually that'd be a good idea
26:05there's a vein here and this is a doppler machine so basically we'll
26:09turn the heartbeat into a noise that we can track his heartbeat with
26:15that's so difficult yeah
26:19can't hear anything yeah i'm not convinced we've still got a heartbeat
26:26might have just been a bit too compromised yeah
26:32luke tries to locate a heartbeat one last time
26:36i'm getting 200. finally some good news okay yeah i'm getting a steady 200 now
26:48the ocean bird's heartbeat is consistent and back in the normal range we'll take an extra at least of
26:54that neck so now the team can get on with the job and fully investigate the pelican's injuries i'm a bit
27:01suspicious we might find um a dislocation or fracture there we'll see what we can find on x-ray
27:09just to see what's going on in this region transfer him to the gaseous circuit while an
27:14x-ray will give luke a much clearer picture of the pelican's long neck he'll first need to sedate it
27:21more deeply with an anesthetic gas normally we'd like to advance those tubes a fair way down there
27:26but right at his glottis here there's a bit of a membrane that pelicans have that's going to stop
27:32us going too much further the membrane stops water from passing down the pelican's throat
27:38but now it's stopping the anesthetic tube oh it's already slipped out again yeah they'll need a plan b
27:51on the barren joey peninsula on sydney's northern beaches
27:54guys the seals are here some wayward fishermen are getting too close to a herd of resting fur seals
28:05the seals are here you're going to disturb them
28:13if they jump in the water we won't get our drone shots
28:15and for taronga's ben and his partner agencies who are trying to count this seal population it's
28:26going to make a difficult job even more difficult down here there's no seals the fishermen sit on that
28:35flat rock just up there there must be a path sort of back on that flat rock
28:40so you're better off being here otherwise you're going to disturb them there's a track over that
28:46way apparently it's pretty pretty steep be careful come down this way but just go that way
28:57hey
29:01he's found a track yeah
29:02as the fishermen move away the skittish seals can finally relax one two three four five six seven
29:14and so can ben and the team and that goes nine yeah they've been quite active at the moment which is
29:22there's one in the water i've been looking
29:25it's important to keep your distance away from seals as the population is recovering one of the
29:35biggest pressures particularly around places like sydney is people loving seals to death and getting
29:41too close so when there is a seal hauled out it's really important to to keep your distance and 40
29:47meters is is the good distance to stay away and also if you're walking your dog and there's a seal on
29:53the beach you want to keep your dog on a lead and keep it away from them as well their time on land
29:58is really important time for them to rest
30:0410 11. there's two further down as well i've counted 16. we'll have to see whether the drone picks up
30:14stuff that we're not seeing
30:15fur seals are experts at camouflage on land and in the water oh there's one in the water is it but
30:25the drone's thermal camera is giving ben and the team an unfair advantage and so if we zoom in here
30:32we can actually see a seal that's currently in the water and so we can click on the map there and it
30:40tells me the temperature of the seal it stands out quite obviously in the thermal imagery the seals
30:46are so well insulated from the cooler water their body temperature makes it near impossible to hide
30:53from this eye in the sky drone technology's really become quite a valuable tool for scientists the beauty
31:01of having eyes in the sky is that we're able to map quite a larger area in locations where it's not
31:07feasible to bring a boat in enabling us to more accurately count the populations of seals in new
31:12south wales while the drone continues to locate even more seals ben moves on to phase two
31:23while we're here counting the seals we've also had a great opportunity to check out their general
31:27health and potential injuries and see whether there's any that might need some more attention
31:33and if they do find any injured fur seals they're definitely adults this survey mission might
31:39just become a rescue mission oh look at this one on the top of the rock he's got an old bite or something
31:45like that on the shores of sydney harbour taronga's african savannah is teeming with bird life
31:55no not those ones these ones
32:08louise to georgia stuffed full of minced meat the paper mache is in position and the lion pride
32:16are primed can you let the lions out now please let the enrichment games begin
32:27here they come
32:37so they're all running out exactly as i hope that they would excited running straight for the balls
32:42that we've put around
32:49what i love about maya the mum even though she's 12 years of age now she's running she's playing
32:58actually i thought one of the cubs might jump up there but she's showing them
33:01how to do it how to reach out how to grab those things out the tree
33:06and that's another behavior that we want to encourage because it's like
33:10mimics that catching prey in the wild and then them having to you know open the hide of the
33:14prey to be able to get to the meat
33:18putting out enrichment like this it really taps into a lot of those
33:22wild instincts that they retain they don't ever lose and they're showing us that right now
33:27and with their look-alike paper cousins getting all the attention
33:37let's say these guys are winning too
33:40lizuko he's one of our young males and he's just spotted that ibis that's up the tree
33:45so what i'm expecting now is that they've expended lots of energy and they'll most likely do what
33:55all cats do and they'll go and sleep the rest of the day away
33:58in the wild they would do the same thing they would hunt they would feed and then they would rest
34:07and that's exactly what our lion family are all starting to do now
34:12so this has been a really really successful day and as you can see the lions have had an incredible
34:17amount of fun so actually there is an ibis still sitting there so they haven't even noticed it but i
34:24guarantee by the end of today it'll definitely be gone but for now this particular bin chicken
34:31lives to fight another day at taronga's wildlife hospital a very sick wild pelican has been brought
34:40in to treatment room one i'm a bit suspicious we might find a dislocation or a fracture there
34:45and luke a part-time taronga keeper and vet is investigating its injuries it's definitely a
34:53unique approach to be both a keeper and a vet right at his glottis here there's a bit of a
35:00membrane that pelicans have it's going to stop us going too much further the bird's anatomy is
35:05preventing luke from passing a tube down its throat so they can administer an anaesthetic gas oh it's
35:12already slipped out again next door is a new pelican mask you want to do that instead that might be the
35:18guy wow that's awesome yeah right exotic medicine 101 while it does look a little exotic this homemade
35:32mask is perfect for this long-billed native bird it's a nice big deep breath there yeah and get him on
35:40this side yeah sure great help his air sucks turning the pelican on its side helps keep the bird's airway
35:49clear making it easier to inhale the anaesthetic turn the house lights off x-ray
35:59you can see a bit of what looks like possibly bruising on the x-ray
36:12this kind of increased whiteness here it's just an indication there's more fluid in the site so it's
36:16pretty consistent with bruising bruising has shown up on the pelican's neck muscles close to the skin
36:23and that bruising we're talking about given that he was found not really being able to use his hind end
36:32i'm pretty suspicious we do have a spinal cord lesion a spinal cord injury can be difficult to assess
36:41on the x-ray come down slightly but the bruising and the bird's difficulty walking suggest the delicate
36:50cord has also been damaged the thing about prognosis with spinal lesions is that in a bird this size
36:58the nursing care will be quite difficult particularly given his anatomy we're not going to be able to
37:04immobilize that neck and keep it safe say like a cat or a dog look decrease in play luke radio's vet
37:13creason for a second opinion i'm not seeing a lot of displacement of the spine but i don't think that
37:21rules out a spinal cord injury yeah we've definitely still got that you know soft tissue swelling yeah
37:30what do we say with any spinal injury it can take a few weeks two months two years to sort of come right
37:36and unfortunately this guy the kindest thing to do with b2 it's going to be euthanasia unfortunately
37:48sorry about that yeah the pelican's injuries are too severe for it to make a recovery
37:55yeah it's not an easy call to make it's not something we take lightly
38:07but um we're really lucky in veterinary medicine that we have euthanasia as an option
38:11it's you know essentially an anesthetic overdose so he will just drop into a really deep sleep
38:18and eventually his heart will stop and you know it's a very humane and peaceful process
38:25it doesn't get easier but i think i think we'd all feel worse if we didn't have it as an option
38:33it's in his best interest if we put him to sleep rather than let them suffer
38:49next the results are in i wouldn't have been surprised today if
38:54we'd only found half a dozen to maybe 10 seals and it's not what anyone expected
39:03on sydney's beautiful coastline taronga and its partners have begun the state's
39:09largest ever fur seal survey counting and assessing the health of this seal population
39:17from the air the seal is a lot hotter than the water around it and from the sea
39:24we can see them over here resting in the water where they lay on their side and they stick their
39:30flipper up and they sometimes grab onto their their rear flipper as well and that's really important
39:34for them because they swim incredibly long distances thousands of kilometers at a time without going back
39:40to land for a rest and so they need to be able to rest on the surface of the ocean it also lets them
39:47regulate their temperature their body temperature as well by sticking their flipper up they can get a
39:51nice breeze across that and they can bask in the sun so they're really really well adapted to
39:59being at sea for almost all of their life oh and look at this one on the top of the rock
40:05it's like a bite or something like that this is a little youngster just here too
40:12so one year old yeah like a little juvenile on the main rock yeah i think there's three of probably
40:21this year's pups really on the on the rock yeah like the one right up on the very top yeah that's
40:27this year's part okay they all look like they're in great condition their coats look really nice
40:34really good body condition they're all looking fairly plump which is nice to see there was one
40:41animal that had a small old cookie cutter shark bite on it that had healed up nicely
40:47but all the seals are in tip-top condition they've obviously been foraging quite well over the winter
40:54the size and health of this particular seal herd has surprised even this salty skipper six years ago
41:01there were none here we've got two more animals up here yeah actually three more
41:09and with the new addition of the drones ben and the team have really sealed the deal we collected lots
41:16of great information so we'll be rolling out this drone technology at multiple seal colonies
41:23so that we're able to get more of a spread of information of how many seals are visiting
41:28different locations that'll help us really understand what pressures they might be under
41:33and what their populations are like at the moment
41:40and as we move to other locations the drones will really provide a lot of value enabling us to
41:45more accurately count the populations of seals in new south wales
41:49now it's time to process some of the images that we've captured and try and confirm some of the
41:57counts that the team on the boat were able to capture
42:03honestly i wouldn't have been surprised today if we'd only found half a dozen to maybe 10 seals
42:10we actually counted 27 seals
42:1527 seals accounted for and just a few thousand to go but that's a survey for another day
42:26yes that was a good day great day yeah we uh count a lot of seals
42:30this survey today is the first of many to come with seals returning to the coastline in new south
42:40wales we're going to be seeing them on our beaches all the time so the best advice for people is if you
42:46do see them keep your distance stay that 40 meters away from them if you're walking your dog keep your
42:51dog on a leash but if you do see an injured or an entangled seal call through to the authorities and
42:57people like national parks and the zoo will be able to go and assist that seal and hopefully
43:02rehabilitate it and get it back out into the wild more than what i was expecting to see
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