Selso’s incredible journey
After his second release the southern elephant seal is again heading south.
SELSO, the South Coast’s celebrity seal, is back in the ocean and heading south after a recent three-month stopover at Port Elizabeth’s Bayworld Aquarium.
The exhausted, starving young southern elephant seal was rescued after he had washed up at Southbroom, two years ago. He spent seven months in rehabilitation at uShaka Marine World then in January last year, once he had regained his condition, was released 45 nautical miles off Port Elizabeth.
Travelling southward at a leisurely pace, he reached the Antarctic shelf four months after entering the water. He spent a week feeding in the rich, but decidedly chilly Antarctic waters, then turned around and headed straight back towards South Africa, stopping off for two days on Marion Island.
After further adventures he beached again, this time at Cape Recife Nature Reserve, near Port Elizabeth, in November last year.When Selso hauled out there he looked a sorry sight, lying motionless on the sand in the howling wind. It was clear he had begun his annual moult. His loss of weight was noticeable and the valuable satellite tag on his head was about to fall off.
Luckily, scientists were able to retrieve the satellite tag as it contained 10 months of data, recorded every four minutes detailing the depth, temperature, duration and location of Selso’s dives as he travelled more than 8 000km from South Africa to the Antarctic and back.At the end of February, after Selso had spent three months regaining his health at Bayworld, uShaka Sea World’s assistant curator, Colette Bodenstaff, flew down to Port Elizabeth to assist Bayworld staff with his release.
Colette was Selso’s principal caregiver during his uShaka Sea World rehabilitation process, prior to his initial release. She observed Selso’s final weigh-in and the taking of his blood and DNA samples then the charismatic little seal was gently encouraged into the awaiting transportation crate. The trip to the harbour went without incident and soon everyone was heading out to sea.
After sailing for two and a half hours, the team finally reached the continental shelf which, with depths of up to 2 000m, was the ideal release site for southern elephant seals. Selso was once again set free off the Eastern Cape coast.
“The first time we released Selso from an MSC cruise ship, he entered the water head first. This time Selso turned around in his crate and entered the water backwards,” said Colette. She recalled the day, 20 months ago, when she received a message from a concerned member of the public who had seen a “strange looking seal” lying on a beach at Southbroom.
She immediately went to the seal’s rescue and, bowled over by his huge imploring eyes, fell hopelessly in love with him. Her wish for Selso was that he would enjoy many more adventures at sea and that scientists would be able to continue following his escapades via satellite.
