Uploaded February 2020 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
A seal clapping its flippers may not sound like a great revelation. Do an internet search for “clapping seal” and you’ll get a lot of hits. Ask a kid for their best seal impression, and odds are it will include a few hearty hand whacks.
But you won’t find any clapping pinnipeds — that’s seals, sea lions, and walruses — in Animal Behavior 101. Though it’s a trick easily taught to trained captive seals in zoos and aquariums, actual clapping has rarely been witnessed, and never recorded, in seals in the wild.
That is, until now. An international research team, led by scientists at Melbourne’s Monash University, published a paper this week in the journal Marine Mammal Science documenting the noteworthy observation.
Read the full story at: discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/seals-caught-clapping-in-the-wild-on-film-for-the-first-time-ever
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Credit: Video by Ben Burville. Full research paper: Hocking, D.P. et al. Percussive underwater signaling in wild gray seals. Marine Mammal Science 1-5 (2020) doi: doi.org/10.1111/mms.12666
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A seal clapping its flippers may not sound like a great revelation. Do an internet search for “clapping seal” and you’ll get a lot of hits. Ask a kid for their best seal impression, and odds are it will include a few hearty hand whacks.
But you won’t find any clapping pinnipeds — that’s seals, sea lions, and walruses — in Animal Behavior 101. Though it’s a trick easily taught to trained captive seals in zoos and aquariums, actual clapping has rarely been witnessed, and never recorded, in seals in the wild.
That is, until now. An international research team, led by scientists at Melbourne’s Monash University, published a paper this week in the journal Marine Mammal Science documenting the noteworthy observation.
Read the full story at: discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/seals-caught-clapping-in-the-wild-on-film-for-the-first-time-ever
—
Credit: Video by Ben Burville. Full research paper: Hocking, D.P. et al. Percussive underwater signaling in wild gray seals. Marine Mammal Science 1-5 (2020) doi: doi.org/10.1111/mms.12666
—
ABOUT DISCOVER:
Discover is your source for science that matters, makes sense and is a lot of fun, too.
Visit us at: discovermagazine.com
FOLLOW US:
Facebook: facebook.com/DiscoverMag
Twitter: twitter.com/DiscoverMag
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/discover.ma...
SUPPORT US:
Subscribe to Discover: bit.ly/34seAFT
Sign up for our newsletter: https://www.discovermagazine.com/news...
My Science Shop: myscienceshop.com
STAY CURIOUS!
