00:00So Neil is a southern elephant seal, largest seal species in the world. He was born in
00:05southeast Tasmania in 2020, so in October. This year he'll be six years old. So he's coming into
00:11sub-adult stage. He's currently at about a thousand kilos. As he matures he'll get bigger and bigger
00:18and we expect him to top out at around about three tonne in weight and about four and a half
00:23meters in length. So think about your average Hilux size huge, not quite as tall when he's
00:29lying on the ground, but this is a big animal we're talking about. So we need to treat him as
00:35such.
00:35He's here to rest. He's had five months at sea, foraging, fattening up, getting ready for this
00:41rest period. So he hauls out every year at about this time and he's been foraging in the deep water
00:47of the southern ocean. So traveling thousands of kilometers before he returns here each year,
00:51so he needs to rest. So we're really asking people to give Neil space to do that.
00:58And during this time he won't feed. We've had people dropping off little food packages to Neil.
01:03He does not need it. He won't feed and he won't even recognize it as food to be honest. So
01:08we're certainly not encouraging that sort of behavior.
01:11There we go.
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