Conversations with Critters
Walk with the animals. Talk with the animals. And a likeness on the beach…
Today, Critters, where earth meets sky, where the waves lap upon the shore, where the fresh salty air oxygenates our lungs, we encounter a special pup closely related to a canine, but of a completely different branch of the evolutionary tree. We bring to you a wild encounter, although fleeting before a return to the ocean depths, and ponder the wonder of how closely related dogs and seals are to each other. Please, join us for sun and surf and excellent critter kinship conversation.
Heidi: Hello, Friends! Welcome to our latest dispatch from Sea Level!
Chris: What. Perhaps, Critters, we should say, Seal Level.
Jasper: Welcome welcome! Well said, Chris.
Chris: Critters, as we can see in the opening photo, the California Sea Lion pup, recognizable by the ears, is a type of seal.
Jasper: Excellent point, Chris. I’m all ears, too.
Chris: In fact, let us go to the source of this incredible natural observation in the wild.
Kermit: Helloooo, Critters! I am at Sea Level at the beach! Take a deep deep breath, hold it, and then exhale and let it all the way out!
Jasper: Thank you, Kermit. This is such an enlivening practice. I feel fully and completely oxygenated.
Chris: As do I. Life is circular. So much so, I’m ready to make a complete circuit from my Food Bowl to the Couch and catch up with my next meal and my nap.
Jasper: Please, first allow me to deepen our discussion by asking a leading question.
Chris: Sure, Jasper. As long as your question leads me to my Food Bowl, I’m good with it.
Jasper: Am I not Orange?
Chris: Is this a yes kind of question or is this a no kind of question?
Jasper: It’s a leading kind of question, Chris.
Chris: What.
Jasper: Am I not Orange? Yes. I. Am.
Chris: Thank you, Jasper. Thank you very much for being clear, above board, and completely transparent, stating the obvious and, furthermore, answering your own question.
Jasper: Thank you, this is only the beginning! My question is leading us into a deep deep place.
Kermit: As deep as the ocean?
Jasper: Yes. I need you to be all ears. Because. I have made a commitment to lifelong learning and we have encountered a Critter in the Wild who is new to us.
Chris: Please, proceed as I am beginning to feel the onset of a Hunger Pang. Time is of the essence as I await the next allotment of my daily total 282 kilocalories.
Jasper: Thank you, Chris. California Sea Lions are recognizable by, surprise, their ears! Let’s share a photo for the edification and enjoyment of our Readers.
Jasper: I find it helpful now to check in with Kermit in the field. Kermit, when you were on the beach and came across this California Sea Lion Pup, were you in California?
Kermit: Thank you for this well thought out question, Jasper. I was not in California. I was further to the North on a beach in Oregon.
Jasper: I see, Kermit. Thank you for this geographic clarity to better define my understanding of the range of this Pacific incredible critter.
Kermit: Of course of course. Their range is quite extensive, from southeast Alaska to central Mexico.
Jasper: Kermit, please help us understand how dogs and seals are related.
Kermit: Dogs and seals are both in the sub-order Caniforma. Furthermore, bears and seals are even more closely related.
Jasper: Did you also see a bear on the beach?
Kermit: Nope.
Jasper: Did you feel your kinship with this pup on the beach?
Kermit: I did. Yes.
Jasper: Did you do a double take?
Kermit: I did.
Jasper: Although the fact is well established that water is a non-starter for me because it is too aquatic and I could get wet, I must set aside my personal feelings and ask, at least hypothetically, in your experience and at the point where the ocean meets the shore, what was your response to the Pup upon returning to the depths of the Ocean?
Kermit: I felt an overwhelming sense of freedom and awe, wondering if the Pup went fishing. Did you know that a Sea Lion can hold their breath under water for up to ten minutes and remain fully oxygenated? That, Critters, is an oxygen saturation of one hundred percent. I feel quite bullish about it, living as I usually do at altitude in the Mountains.
Chris: Kermit, this is truly, humbly, and deeply amazing. But did that sense of awe result in any feelings of hunger or sleepiness?
Jasper: Chris, I thought you were sleeping on the Couch!
Chris: Yes, that is correct. But someone mentioned fishing, did they not?
Kermit: Yes, I am bullish and believe the Pup sensed that it was time for lunch.
Chris: Thank you, Kermit. My work here is done. Critters, I will see you next time.
Jasper: Until then, stay safe and have fun out there!
Kermit: Critters, thank you so much for being here at Sea Level. The End.
🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
Poetry with Pets
Oxygenated
Breathe in the fresh salty air
One hundred percent
By Jasper Kitten, Chris & Kermit the Frog
[Photo of Kermit courtesy of Cheryl Patzer]
Poor Chris is so hungry. Will he always have to eat so few kilocalories? FUREVER?
The seal pup is beautiful. I bet it's fun to be a seal pup. Thank you for the fascinating information, critters!
No wonder I am so drawn to seals (and otters)!