Keeper Emma shares her love for fur seal Orua

If you’ve visited our Takutai (Coast) habitat in Te Wao Nui you may have had the pleasure of observing Subantarctic fur seal Orua gliding impressively at speed underwater. Or seen him basking in the sun on the rock stack at the habitat’s beach.

Now almost 19 years old (upper life expectancy for these seals), Orua came to the Zoo from the wild as an eight-month-old pup in late 2006 after being found washed up at a beach on the Manukau Harbour – way outside his natural range. He was underweight, lethargic and had parasites. Some eight months later it was also discovered he had a cataract in his left eye, significantly impacting his vision.

Carnivore keeper Emma, who leads her team’s care and training of Orua (he was formerly in the care of our Elephant team where she also worked) describes him as “an incredibly smart and charismatic animal who loves the challenge of learning new things and has ‘personality plus’!”

“I’ve had the privilege of working with Orua for eight years now. He’s an amazing advocate for marine species, and while his vision has continued to deteriorate with age – he is totally blind in his left eye and is showing signs of cataract in his right eye - he is doing remarkably well.

“Having outlived the Zoo’s other fur seals (also rescue animals) all of the care we provide is about keeping Orua stimulated and active to ensure his best welfare and quality of life. Key to this are his daily training sessions,” says Emma.

Emma explains these enriching sessions not only enable her and the team to monitor his health closely, and have the vets check and/or treat his eyes as needed, they keep him both physically and mentally active in fun and interesting ways, and his participation is always voluntary. 

As part of this training, Orua has learnt to respond to a wide range of verbal and/or physical cues – a lot of which related to natural grooming and feeding behaviours. These see him do everything from presenting different body parts such as opening his mouth, rolling over, being comfortable receiving a full body rub, moving his flippers backwards and forwards, to even being able to take bloods from him.

“Orua is a real star when it comes to learning new things. We’re currently working on taking blood from his brachial vein (under the shoulder part of his flipper) and it’s going really well. This is important as for Orua, it’s a low stress way for us obtain blood as part of monitoring his health.

“In terms of his physical health, we want to see how he’s moving – both in the water and on land, if he’s using all his different muscles and is able to access all of his environment. Activities like getting him to swim out and retrieve items like plastic bottles and netted rings – that also allow us to talk to visitors about the perils of plastic pollution – and having him climb up on the rock stack, are perfect for this.

“Every session also comes with food reinforcement. An absolute favourite for Orua is giant squid – one of a range of fish his species eats in the wild. Fish ice blocks also go down a treat and are a way for him to have to work for his food,” says Emma.

If you’re visiting us soon, be sure to get along to our Takutai (Coast) habitat where its underwater viewing window is an especially great place to view Orua. If he’s not there – he may be basking in the sun on the rocks!

Fast Facts

• Subantarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus tropicalis) are part of the family Otariidae which also includes sea lions. Unlike true seals, fur seals and sea lions are known as the ‘eared seals’, though are still distinct species with different morphological adaptations.
• Built for the cold: Fur seals have two layers of fur, a shorter coarse undercoat, and a longer hydrophobic topcoat which provides protection against the cold waters they frequent.
• Range and habitat: Typically found on offshore islands throughout the subantarctic region including the southern Indian Ocean and southern Atlantic. While a rarity, they do occasionally make their way to Aotearoa – which is what happened in the case of Orua; he was found at Orua Bay on Auckland’s Awhitu Peninsula (north of Waiuku).
• Sightings in Aotearoa: While it is possible that adult subantarctic fur seals may be spotted, most ones seen in Aotearoa are pups and juveniles.
• DOC advice: If you encounter a seal on or near a beach, give it space, keep dogs away/on leads, do not get closer than 20 metres or get between the seal and the sea. If you see a seal either severely injured or being harassed or in danger, call 0800 DOC HOT (0800 362 468).