The Little Cape Fur Seal is Finally on View!

The seal pup is still entirely dependent on his mother’s milk. He will not start tasting fish until next year. Photo: Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

“The pup’s first few days of life were dramatic, as the female Daisy apparently did not have enough breast milk and showed little interest in her offspring. The little male survived only thanks to the round-the-clock care provided by the veterinarian and keepers, who decided to give the otherwise vigorous pup a chance,” says Prague Zoo Director Lenka Poliaková.

The pup is now being reared naturally, as the situation changed about a week after his birth. “Along with the onset of lactation, Daisy’s maternal instincts also kicked in, and now we can all watch the two-month-old male exploring the enclosure alongside his mother,” adds Prague Zoo’s head keeper of fur seals, Jakub Mezei.

Cape fur seals are born on land and learn to swim from their mothers. At Prague Zoo, there is no gently sloping access to the water or tidal pools where pups encounter water in the wild, and Jabulani was therefore gradually introduced to tubs of various sizes in the zoo’s off-exhibit areas. By the beginning of August, he was already confident enough to venture into the large pool.

“Every pup born at Prague Zoo is a little miracle. With fur seals, this is doubly true, because rearing them is not easy. I am delighted that the little male is doing so well. He can now enjoy the pool, the water and his new audience. I wish him good health and plenty of joy as he gets up to all sorts of fur seal antics,” said Jana Komrsková, Deputy Mayor of Prague responsible for the environment, today.

The seal pup is very playful. His favourite pastimes include sucking on his own flippers and catching drops of water. Pictured with Prague Zoo’s head keeper of fur seals, Jakub Mezei. Photo: Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

Jabulani’s father is Eda, who moved to a zoo in Rostock, Germany, last year as part of a genetic management programme. As Prague Zoo has a highly successful breeding record, finding additional unrelated females for Eda would have been very difficult. For more than a year, Prague Zoo has therefore been home to the adolescent male Oslo, originally from Pairi Daiza in Belgium, who is expected to sire future pups.

Prague Zoo currently keeps five Cape fur seals. In addition to Oslo, there are the females Abeba, Ronja and the already-mentioned Daisy with Jabulani. The youngest addition will eventually move to another zoo because Cape fur seals live in harems led by a single dominant male.

Prague Zoo is the only institution in the Czech Republic to keep Cape fur seals. The species is currently kept at just 16 zoological gardens in the EU. This is relatively few compared with other well-known eared seal species: the South American sea lion, for example, is kept at 32 zoos in the EU, while the California sea lion can be found at as many as 64 European institutions.

The seal pup climbs out of the large exhibit pool. He weighed 4,510 grams at birth and now weighs exactly 14 kilograms, meaning that he has already tripled his weight. Photo: Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo