marine mammal memories....

this darling elephant seal was featured in my latest marine mammal center newsletter. omigoodness... i like to call them 'little fatties'. when i was volunteering at the center, they would show up dehydrated and malnourished, and they still looked like little fatties. they were my favorite animals that came through... it's something about the eyes. they have eyes like deep, dark, dreamy pools... sea lions have quick, darting eyes that somehow mirror their wicked intelligence and curiosity, but elephant seal pups have a sort of languid, patient beauty that reflects back at you. maybe it's because of how deep they can dive. it's been shown they can go as deep as 5,000 feet. maybe that is part of what i see in the eyes.

almost makes me remember why I got up every wednesday at 6am for a year and a half to go wash the poo out of their pens, thaw and cut up fish for them, towel wrap their heads and tube feed them with 'fish mash', clean fish scales off of things for HOURS... and oh right... there was that one that bit me. and then that whole making sure that i didn't get 'seal finger' thing. right. oh - and also that time that I watched the necropsy of the mother and baby. and oh god...the 30 day old harbor porpoise that had to be basically carried around the pool by a human at all times because... yeah. ok. i'll stop now. oh god! and swissy! the sea lion who had been back several times due to gunshot wounds to the head and all sorts of other ailments, who, just seconds after being re-released into the wild, was snatched by a great white shark.

ah. memories....

but honestly.... the MMC helped toughen me up a lot. and it got me to the marin headlands once a week, which was like therapy for the price of a bridge toll. if any of you have never been, I highly recommend checking it out. :)