Rescue Seal Pup's Very First Swim Is Such a Joy to See

Most parents remember their children’s firsts—the first time they walk, or say “mama” or ride a bike. I even have videos of my children achieving milestones ranging from first time they cooked themselves a grilled cheese to first time diving off the diving board.

But I think the Seal Rehabilitation and Research Centre in Pieterburen, Netherlands just raised the bar for every proud parent hoping to catch some footage of their kids being adorable—they recently filmed a rescue seal pup learning how to swim, and it’s honestly too cute for words.

The tiny baby sea pup, named Kiwi, is being cared for at the seal centre with a view toward returning him to the wild when he is weaned. He was found abandoned on a beach with no mother nearby. The researchers determined that he was only three days old, as he still has his umbilical cord attached to him.

Related: Seal Pup Rescued on New Jersey Shore After Found Tangled in Plastic

Why Do Seals Abandon Their Pups?

The survival rate of baby seals is only about fifty percent, as they are extremely vulnerable in the wild. This is especially true for pups born prematurely, who are often abandoned by their mothers because their hearts and lungs are not developed enough to take to the water within days of their birth, as is expected of them. The researchers at the center suspect that this was the fate of baby Kiwi, especially as he still had his lanugo coat, a fluffy white coat that seal pups develop in the womb to help them keep warm, then shed after birth.

Within a few days of his arrival at the center, they were introducing him to the water in an attempt to turn him into an independent adult seal.

Seal Rehabilitation Efforts

In the wild, mother seals only care for their pups for about four to six weeks before they are left to fend for themselves, but in that time, they learn a lot about seal behavior and especially how to swim, hunt, and forage for themselves.

At rehabilitation centers, humans try to teach the animals these same skills. They feed the pups with a mix of salmon “porridge” and vitamins to make up for the lack of mother’s milk, and get the pups in the water as soon as possible. Within a few days of arriving, Kiwi was introduced to the concept of swimming. This was a skill he eventually conquered after dipping his head inside the pool…only ninety-three times.

With the help of cameras set both above and below the water, you can watch in the video as Kiwi goes from fearful to curious to enthusiastic about learning to swim.

Unfortunately, there are many trials ahead for the pup and for the researcher in order to get Kiwi ready for life on the open seas.

In nature, seal pups remain constantly with their mothers for the first few weeks of life, and thus are naturally in need of companionship and snuggles. But in captivity, it’s important not to make these seals reliant on humans, or interested in seeking out human companionship once they are grown, so they must limit the time the pups spend with human handlers. Many rehabilitation centers seek to put abandoned pups together so they can be with their own kind. Or if another seal pup is unavailable, they may put a stuffed animal inside the enclosure.

The other issue with abandoned seal pups is how to teach them how to hunt. Studies have shown that seals raised in captivity forage farther and longer than their wild-raised counterparts in search of food, indicating that there is a skillset they miss learning from their mothers that is never recovered.

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