In a joint project, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Swedish Museum of Natural History and University of Gothenburg will measure the condition of gray seal pups in the Baltic Sea. The project will run for three years.
How are the gray seal pups doing? We’re about to find out. In a new project, researchers from Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the Swedish Museum of Natural History and University of Gothenburg are collecting footage of the pups in the Baltic Sea. Using drones, they are measuring the length, girth and weight of the pups to get an overview of their condition when they are weaned from their mothers. The project will run for three years.
It is early morning sometime late winter last year. Out on the islands in the Skarv archipelago in the sea belt outside Stockholm, female seals and seal pups lie close on the rocks. These are mating times for the gray seals. Sea eagles soar above them. Hungry and ready to attack a weak and lonely pup.
Ringed seal pups become homeless as the Baltic Sea's ice shrinks. Now it is being tested to build caves out of plastic and plywood to make the cubs survive in an increasingly hot climate.
I have had many pets in my life. First I had budgies. I particularly liked my first one - Mimi. I once took her to school in the outer compartment of my backpack. In the summer I fished. I pulled up roaches and perch on the jetty. Digged a pit and had my own fish pond. Then there were mice. Rats. Turtles. Rabbits. Chickens and horses. I knew that stuff with animals.
