Programs
TOPP has also set up programs to engage the public in learning about marine science and marine conservation. One of its programs is called Elephant Seal Homecoming Days, which was started by TOPP in 2008 for the months the northern elephant seals return to Año Nuevo State Reserve during the breeding season. TOPP picks around 10 of the many they tagged to become "spokes-seals" for the public, allowing them to see what it is like being one of the biggest seals in the world. Elephant seals are prime candidates for tagging because they tend to return to the same beach every year to breed, yielding high tag recovery. They can gather immense amounts of information because they can swim for thousands of miles. The seals are issued their own Facebook profile that is kept up for them by undergraduate volunteer keepers. Facebook profiles keep the public updated on their progress while they give birth and proceed to take care of their pups. Two seals are the stars of TOPP Elephant Seal Homecoming Days. The first is Penelope Seal, who has been part of the program since 2008. The second one is new as of 2009, and his name is Stelephant Colbert (in reference to Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report).
- Early years
Stelephant started out as a mere pup in a small harem of northern elephant seals located at Año Nuevo State Reserve. He has since grown into one of the most famous elephant seals ever, even appearing on The Colbert Report. Around eight years old, Stelephant is a 4,500-pound beast. Not known as the pretty-boy, he gets by on his aggressiveness and determination to get as close to females as possible. With his proboscis, or nose, high in the air, almost any male is turned away unless they wish to fight. These fights are not known to last for long, however, because Stelephant is a seasoned fighter and knows how to win. He is what every male elephant seal strives to be, huge, strong, and proud.
When Stelephant Colbert was weaned, he spent the next few weeks on the beach waiting for the courage to go and join the adult seals out in the northern Pacific Ocean. He returned the next year to the same beach on the California coast as a yearling, where he was exiled to the outskirts of the harems with all the other yearlings. The next few years were spent building muscle and growing large to be able to compete with the larger males. During his third to fifth year, Stelephant practiced his fighting skills with other young males to build strength; while he did compete with the adults, he was not much competition and spent most of his days far away from females. When he was around seven years old with his proboscis finally grown in, he was finally ready to compete with the adult males for the alpha position.
- Tagging
Stelephant has been involved with the University of California, Santa Cruz Long Marine Lab researchers, and was tagged last spring to track his foraging habits while swimming and diving off the Aleutian Islands in the northern Pacific Ocean.
- Current
Stelephant was issued his own Facebook page, where people can keep track of his whereabouts and his status updates. Visits to Stelephant's Facebook page have tripled in recent months. He is the most talked-about seal in the program in that he was featured in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the Associated Press, and many additional media organizations. The biggest media event was when Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report, after whom Stelephant is named, spoke of his seal on his show. Stelephant was featured in one of the show episodes, creating a media buzz. Since then, Stelephant’s fan based has skyrocketed bringing attention to TOPP and the UCSC Long Marine Lab who Stelephant is associated with. Stelephant has enabled TOPP to engage the public in learning about northern elephant seals, marine science, and marine conservation.
Stelephant is now an alpha male at Año Nuevo State Reserve, and will soon return to the ocean to forage once again. Stelephant was featured on Oceans Google Earth, which allows the user to explore the oceans. His tags were recovered in January and he was not tagged again.
Read more about this topic: Tagging Of Pacific Predators
Famous quotes containing the word programs:
“Will TV kill the theater? If the programs I have seen, save for “Kukla, Fran and Ollie,” the ball games and the fights, are any criterion, the theater need not wake up in a cold sweat.”
—Tallulah Bankhead (1903–1968)
“Whether in the field of health, education or welfare, I have put my emphasis on preventive rather than curative programs and tried to influence our elaborate, costly and ill- co-ordinated welfare organizations in that direction. Unfortunately the momentum of social work is still directed toward compensating the victims of our society for its injustices rather than eliminating those injustices.”
—Agnes E. Meyer (1887–1970)
“Although good early childhood programs can benefit all children, they are not a quick fix for all of society’s ills—from crime in the streets to adolescent pregnancy, from school failure to unemployment. We must emphasize that good quality early childhood programs can help change the social and educational outcomes for many children, but they are not a panacea; they cannot ameliorate the effects of all harmful social and psychological environments.”
—Barbara Bowman (20th century)