MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. The Murmansk Marine Biological Institute (the Russian Academy of Sciences) continued the studies of seals from 2015 to 2020. Another scientific challenge is to see whether seals, like birds, can find directions using the Earth’s "magnet map."
Sonya is the first star
- Why Sonya? - I ask Andrei Yakovlev, the Institute’s expert who studies whether seals can feel the electromagnetic field and recognize objects that have it.
- Our Sonya is experienced, she solves tasks, she behaves well, she’s got only As, - the scientist said. - Probably only Veta is better, but she is heavier by 50 kilos, and it is more complicated to have her transported.
Sonya, Veta, Buzya and Zmei are grey seals. Back in 2005, the scientists took the puppies from the Barents Sea and sent over to a "school for the pinnipeds."
- They all travel calmly inside special containers. In 2015, we used a boat to take the container to the enclosure, moved it to the gate, and here Sonya walks in. This boat took her to the shore, where very many strong men carried the valuable cargo of 200 kilos to the car, which brought her to the Institute, where the experiment began, - Andrei said.
- The artificial magnetic field was generated, - the biologist said. - We wanted to see how the behavior would change. The moving activity was a background criterion. Normally, a seal may lie on a platform, swim in circles or by another trajectory inside the pool, it may simply hang in the water or may lie on the bottom with the head above the surface. We counted the numbers of surfacing and diving to compare the impact.
In a year, another seal, Buzya, joined the experiment. In summer, 2020, in the Barents Sea the scientists began another stage - to study magnet reception, where they used the so-called Helmholtz coil with the highly intensive electromagnetic field, some 1.5 times higher than the Earth’s geomagnetic induction.
- This time, the experiment involved Sonya, Veta and Zmei. As time went by, they came to identify objects. Now we can say with confidence that grey seals can feel magnetic fields, - Andrei Yakovlev said, shyly. Interestingly, he was the first scientist to make this discovery.
Another question, the experts want to study is whether seals use this ability during migration and where the animals hide their "compasses."
- I have been working on data regarding magnet reception, or the ability to react to magnetic fields, which birds, insects and bacteria positively have. Thus, during migrations, they never get lost: birds know for sure where to fly to spend the winter and how to return, and bees, for example, also know easily how to get to the rye field and be back safely. At the same time, seals also migrate - they get to the surface seeing only water around them, no objects, and yet they get to where they need - to rookeries, for example, - the scientist said.
Where their compasses could be?
- This is still a mystery! - The Institute’s Deputy Director Dmitry Ishkulov joins the conversation. - We still cannot say where the magnet reception organs are. We know that eyes are used for the sight, ears for the hearing, but where is the organ they use for magnet reception?
Some scientists say any body has iron-containing particles, for example, in the blood, and iron changes its position along magnetic lines.
- Take, for example, the well-known scientific fact that bacteria have magnet reception. But bacteria do not have the brain! - Dmitry said. - They have organelles, which have polar molecules. Depending on electromagnetic fields, they change positions. Some scientists say there are some organs, which are not known yet. If we say that for reception of magnet fields could be responsible some parts of the brain, then, most likely, they may be responsible for analyzing received information. Here comes a very big question - from where this information comes and which part of the body is responsible for reception of a magnet field.
The fact that seals see colors is the scientific truth. For a long time, experts considered all mammals, with the exception for humans and higher primates, including seals, being color blind. But the Institute’s scientists have proven the opposite.
Red, blue. Light blue? Why seals are taught to see colors?
- A few years ago, our experiments proved grey seals see shades of grey, as well as red, blue and green colors. Seals have a very well developed higher nervous activity, and they can be trained easily, they can develop conditioned reflex actions, - Dmitry Ishkulov said.
A coach inside the enclosure uses toys of different colors and cards of similar colors. The "students" pick a toy and a card of the same color. Can they see other colors of the spectrum?
I was curious to learn why scientists want to know these features, where those skills could be used. The response was: "Why? At the service, of course!"
- The idea to use the pinnipeds as service animals is quite progressive, - Dmitry Ishkulov said. - Take, for example, an inspection of pipelines in the water - color differences may prompt damages, or animals could install a color mark in a certain place. We have experiments, where an animal sees a hole in the pipe and installs a small float, and later on divers use it to bring necessary equipment to the failed part. When working with divers, seals can identify friend-or-foe, depending on the outfit’s color.
Scientists say such capabilities may be handy in rescue or military missions.
Service seals are better than service dogs
The Pinniped Special Force, or Arctic Special Force, Mammal Rangers - those are nicknames given to the polar school for the pinnipeds, which opened on the Kola Peninsula in 1984. A lot has changed since then, but anyway the unique "educational institution" continues working. Authorized personnel only, however.
- First works with marine animals were initiated by the Soviet Union’s Defense Ministry. At certain times, work was less intensive (in the 1990s), at others - more intensive. It depended on the country’s economy and the Defense Ministry’s demand, and on the scientific tasks. Presently, we continue mostly scientific research, - the Institute’s Director Professor of Biology Pavel Makarevich said.
The scientific group used to work with different mammals: sea lions, beluga whales, dolphins, but finally decided to continue studies with grey seals. They are very clever and contact humans easily, scientists said.
- In the long run, we realized we are not breeders, we do not train service dogs, we only offer methods how to train them, - Dmitry Ishkulov said. - We have a unique scientific base: from recommendations what wood and nails to use in building a cage, how to feed babies abandoned by moms, to how a coach should work with animals, how to distinguish them.
There is no comparing seals with other service animals, dogs, for example, the scientists said. They are neither better nor worse. They are different. Pet a dog - and it waves the tail. A seal would not care. What it cares for is fish!
Smart, kind, though materialistic
- Seals are not cats, dogs, Guiney pigs or parrots. They are wild animals. For them, humans are a source of food. The relations are materialistic, - the Institute’s head of laboratory, Alexander Zaitsev said, smiling. - Nothing but business: you give me fish, I do what you want. No fish - I do nothing.
Alexander has been working at the institute for 13 years. Seals, he said, differ greatly.
- For example, for examining communication lines in the water, the task would be typical: a seal with a camera moves from point A to point B - here we use phlegmatic animals. A choleric seal would rather find an object and bring it to the surface, he said, adding Sonya, a typical workaholic, cannot barely stand to watch people who work for too long with other seals, not her. Would attempt biting on heals.
- We are aware of this, and try walking by very accurately, - Alexander said. - Whenever we resume training her, Sonya would change to being a peaceful and accurate student.
Another thing about seals, the scientist said, - they are braggers. Just like people. Imagine - coaches work with seals in the open water - the seal would dive and then it’s back with a trout, shows it to the coach as if saying - see what I can do!
Anyway, another interesting case in this story deserves a separate paragraph.
How Tim could appear
- We cannot say it is the first case of the kind, but anyway, it is unique, - Alexander Zaitsev said. - All the animals are kept in natural conditions. They, in fact, live in the sea year-round, though people feed them. The only limitation is the area.
The enclosure is made of a net with a cell of a few centimeters. Thus, animals cannot disappear, though people not always know what happens down there, in the deep water.
- At a certain moment we see our Buzya behaves weirdly. We realized she was pregnant. But our only male, Fes, could not have contacted her, - Alexander said. - Tim was born a few months later. His dad was a wild male seal.
Tim was born in December, 2019.
- The baby eats well, can distinguish between sounds, reacts to orders from coaches, and learns to see colors.
Tim is the ninth student at the school of pinnipeds. He has got an official birth certificate.