Seal webcam alert! Seal visible now!

[auroracloud]

The WWF Finland's seal webcam is live and there's a seal on the rock! Actually, the webcam's been live for a couple of weeks, but for some reason there hasn't been a seal in sight until now. No guarantees how long it's staying there for, so it might not be there anymore when you look at the link, but at least it's there now when I'm posting this and has been for a while.

So for those who don't remember me mentioning it a few weeks back, it's a webcam for the very rare Saimaa Ringed Seal, only found in the Lake Saimaa in Finland. They like to lie on the rocks jutting from the lake in the spring, especially on sunny days, so they can dry their fur. It helps them with their seasonal moulting.

It's lying belly up or belly towards the camera, so you can mostly see its ring-patterned belly and its flippers, but it lifts its head up every now and then, and I've also seen it extend one of its front flippers to touch the water.

Go, watch a very relaxed seal and feel relaxed!

Comments

seal belly!

[oldtoadwoman]

Seal!

Thanks for sharing. When I checked, it was wriggling around to adjust to a comfier position so I got maximum wriggle. So cute.

I would never survive in the wild. My first instinct is to hug everything. I want to hug it!

Re: seal belly!

[auroracloud]

Yes! It did a lot of wriggling! And just now it's been stretching and scratching is fur a lot.

[troisoiseaux]

Ahhh, I love it! This is so cool, thanks for letting us know!

[auroracloud]

You're welcome! It's nice to share the joy. :-)

[rosefox]

Thank you! That is a delightfully chill seal.

[auroracloud]

It seems seals on their rocks are very chill indeed!

[casualbird]

ohhhhhh! a friend!!!!

[auroracloud]

Adorable, isn't it? :-)

[thisbluespirit]

Aww. That is definitely one very relaxed seal! (It probably would be less so if it realised it was being spied on by humans from across the world, but never mind...)

[auroracloud]

Seals know how to relax! Yeah, I'm afraid that our privacy laws don't extend to seals. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure it doesn't mind as long as the human are far away from it and can't scare or threaten it or otherwise be a nuisance.

[nerakrose]

SEAL!!!!!!

[auroracloud]

Seal adorability!

[st_aurafina]

It's gone now! But I'm going to keep that tab open, because I want to see relaxed seals for sure.

[auroracloud]

Aww, too bad! Hopefully it'll be back soon! Might not be today, it's colder here, and I think it must be raining somewhere near/over the lake, because the rock is almost covered by water now. But I'll keep an eye out for it!

Apparently it's a new one on this rock. A healthy young female, they say, belongs to the same "clan" of seals as the others who've been sighted in the same place in previous years, but this one's been a bit further away in the previous years.

[alasse_irena]

Damn, now it is gone! I will check back later...

[auroracloud]

Today it doesn't seem to be around, possibly because the weather's colder and the water is higher, but I'll check back every now and then. :-)

[tinny]

Heee, I remember the seal from last year. This is a fun recurring event. :D

(It's not there right now, but I'll check back a few times this week, maybe I'll catch it.)