Friday, January 11, 2019

Seal, Go Blow Your Nose...!

Now here is something that you don't see every day. Another one of nature's critters (a seal) with an eel up it's nose! Here is the story from Listverse.

The Mysterious Seal-Eel Connection



Photo credit: Brittany Dolan/NOAA Fisheries

There’s a new fad out there which has baffled scientists and poses a serious health risk: sticking eels up your nose. There’s just one catch, though. It’s not teenagers who are doing it but rather juvenile Hawaiian monk seals.

The story got picked up after the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) posted a picture of a seal with a dead spotted eel stuck up its nose on its Facebook page. The image puzzled animal experts, who’d never seen the bizarre phenomenon before. According to NOAA, the organization has been monitoring the endangered species for almost 40 years and had only noticed the odd incident on a few occasions, and they all happened in the last three years.

Charles Littnan, head of NOAA’s Hawaiian monk seal research program, said the first instance occurred in 2016.[2] He received an e-mail from a field researcher which, basically, said, “Found seal with eel stuck in nose. What do we do?” There was no protocol set in place back then, but now, standard procedure is to capture the animal and pull the eel through the nostril. So far, all the eels have died, but none of the Hawaiian monk seals seemed affected by the incident.

There’s still the question of why is this happening, and so far, there is no satisfying answer. NOAA has ruled out the work of a deranged person with a vendetta against seals. Littnan said it could be that the seal is regurgitating the eel, or the fish purposely swam inside the nose while the seal was hunting it, but doesn’t consider either hypothesis plausible.

I seem to remember that when we were kids, one of my sisters (I don't remember which one) got something stuck up her nose and had to go to the doctor's office to have it removed. If memory serves, it was a bean, and had started to sprout!

Coffee in the kitchen again this morning.

8 comments:

Momlady said...

Weird, just weird. Below freezing here this morning, Rain coming later, maybe a rain/snow mix. Geesh!

linda m said...

That is just way too weird. Hope they can find a reason . Still cold here. Almost froze my nose yesterday going for a walk.

Mamahen said...

Beyond strange! 25° here this morning...suppos to be slightly warmer then 2-4 inches of snow tomorrow...Ready for spring already:))

HermitJim said...

Hey Momlady...
Now that is too cold for my taste. Time to take a warm cruise, don't ya think?
Thanks for stopping by today!


Hey Linda...
I sure don't care for the cold at all. When my feet get cold, I am done for.
Thanks for coming by this morning!


Hey Mamahen...
Did I mention that I don't care for the snow? Times like this I'm glad I live in the South.
Thanks for the visit this morning!

JO said...

Strange thing having a eel up your nose. But it isn't effecting the seal so thats good but not so much for the eel.

I won't complain about it being 39 here since you all have it much colder. See you all in the nice warm kitchen.

Rob said...

And that just started? Odd odd odd....

It's nice out this morning in this part of Florida, going up to 72 & sunny they say.. Sounds like time for an english muffin with strawberry jam along with the coffee!

Dizzy-Dick said...

About the only thing I stick up my nose is my finger (grin).

Sixbears said...

The seals are daring each other. :)