Onetime Navy seal dies at National Zoo
The National Zoo lost ones of its elders Thursday. Gray seal Selkie, part of the American Trail exhibit, died at age 43.
Selkie was among the oldest zoo residents. But her age wasn’t noteworthy just in Washington. Selkie was the oldest gray seal “living in human care,” according to zoo officials. Female gray seals often live close to 40 years old in zoos but only 25 to 30 years in the wild.
She also had an interesting backstory. Selkie was born in Iceland and spent her early years in a secret program at the Naval Ocean Systems Center in San Diego, California. A real-life Navy seal, she was trained to retrieve equipment from the ocean floor. She also learned how to use a screwdriver and turn a large wheel valve.
In 1979, the Navy stopped working with animal seals (Human SEALs are part of a special Navy combat unit). Selkie and a male seal named Gunnar were sent to the National Zoo.
After arriving in Washington, she and Gunnar had four female pups. Pups Kara and Kjya, along with granddaughter Rona can be seen on American Trail. Gunnar died in 2012.
In recent years, Selkie was unable to see because of cataracts. She often used ramps to get out of the pool. For the past several months, zookeepers and veterinarians had been watching growths on her abdomen, according to a zoo statement. She had an exam Tuesday but had seemed to recover well and behave normally. Doctors will look into how and why Selkie died, the zoo said.
Gray seals live in the coastal waters of the North Atlantic and eat fish, crustaceans, squid and octopus. They weigh about 35 pounds at birth and grow to more than 500 pounds.
The species isn’t considered an endangered. Gray seal populations fell dramatically in the first half of the 20th century because of widespread hunting. But the numbers have bounced back off New England since 1972, when the Marine Mammal Protection Act made killing them a crime.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZLmqssSsq7KklWS4qrDSqaasrF%2Bku6bAyKacZqaRq8Zuv8Sao2acmZrAbq3TZqWarJmku6K4jLOmqGdiZX53e5BqZmpoX5mxp4GPmnCaZZFshHZ5kGqcb2WSloJ6ecBwm3JrYWuCpILDbZasrJ%2Bnxm%2B006aj