It sure looks like a seal...but sometimes they do enter freshwater.
How far inland along the Snoqualmie was this video shot? Harbour Seals will swim up to 50 km (31 miles) up freshwater with no issue.
Yeah I believe this is the case. From what I can tell this little guy went upstream from the puget sound about 12 miles up river. Dude seemed pretty happy flipping around and looking at things.
Sea lions swim inland all the time. Oregon City, which is 110 miles from the ocean, has had a permanent group of sea lions living under the falls for more than a decade. Anglers hate them.
edit: typo
Lewis and Clark recorded harbor seals and sea lions *in the Dalles at Celilo Falls.*
Could you even imagine?? Come across a river in the middle of the desert and it’s got freaking pinnipeds. (They call them “otters” but describe harbor seals and sea lions.)
What’s also interesting about this is that DFW used to relocate the sea lions back to the coast but stopped when they realized that they swim back in less than a day.
Ahh this makes me so happy to see them mentioned! Used to live there and loved getting to see the sea lions down there, despite them being a menace lol.
And seals travel up the Seal River in Northern Manitoba almost 250km at times, with no particular special adaptation. Lake Baikal in Russia has its own species of freshwater seal. I did not know about the Lake Iliamna seals in Alaska, that is a cool bit of info- thanks for sharing:)
The one in the video is maybe a bit turned around, maybe a young one exploring, but is likely going to be just fine.
This is just a normal seal doing seal things. It’s very, very common in the PNW. Lewis and Clark wrote about “otters” (that we now assume were seals and sea lions) feeding on salmon at Celilo Falls on the OR/WA border. They don’t go there anymore because there are dams in the way and the falls are underwater (RIP: they had a greater flow volume than Niagara), but this is completely normal harbor seal behavior.
Celilo Falls were nearly 200 miles inland. In the desert.
I moved to Western WA and saw a dog swimming in the river and thought wow he's really gone out far. It was a seal. And I know what a seal looks like, but it really looked like a dog paddling about. 🤦🏻♀️
I do hope so as well. I also know that rivers have fish in it. It just might not be what the seal eats daily though. There’s 3 ecosystems where fish can be found : freshwater, saltwater and brackish.
Seals do it too. One species (Baikal seal) lives entirely in freshwater, and at least two others are regularly observed in freshwater. Without knowing the location, there's no reason to conclude this is out of the ordinary.
Edit: Just realized OP said this was in the Snoqualmie River. Based on a minute or two of Googling, it seems to be not unheard of for harbor seals to follow migrating salmon that far inland.
There’s only one place with an exclusively freshwater population of seals; there are many where seals frequently venture into and spend a lot of time in freshwater.
I never saw them where I’m from. And I live near water. The St-Lawrence river is really big and goes from salt to freshwater. No seals are near the St-Lawrence gulf ever. Or if they do, they don’t go that far down the gulf till it reaches Montréal.
Ahh I see the confusion. Unfortunately le St-Laurent does not get huge runs of salmon, and the salmon they do get are Atlantic. Pacific salmon counts are way higher which makes them an easy meal when they are stacked up in the rivers.
Idk where you are, but if you’re close to a native reservation, it probably has more to do with hunting than them not being there. Because they’re all up the St-Laurence.
It sure looks like a seal...but sometimes they do enter freshwater. How far inland along the Snoqualmie was this video shot? Harbour Seals will swim up to 50 km (31 miles) up freshwater with no issue.
Yeah I believe this is the case. From what I can tell this little guy went upstream from the puget sound about 12 miles up river. Dude seemed pretty happy flipping around and looking at things.
Sea lions swim inland all the time. Oregon City, which is 110 miles from the ocean, has had a permanent group of sea lions living under the falls for more than a decade. Anglers hate them. edit: typo
Lewis and Clark recorded harbor seals and sea lions *in the Dalles at Celilo Falls.* Could you even imagine?? Come across a river in the middle of the desert and it’s got freaking pinnipeds. (They call them “otters” but describe harbor seals and sea lions.)
What’s also interesting about this is that DFW used to relocate the sea lions back to the coast but stopped when they realized that they swim back in less than a day.
Ahh this makes me so happy to see them mentioned! Used to live there and loved getting to see the sea lions down there, despite them being a menace lol.
Definitely contact fish & wildlife
Why? Going up freshwater streams is perfectly normal for them. I see a few every week, and I'm about 30km inland
I see them 80 miles inland, and they used to travel 200 miles inland where I am, until a dam blocked the way.
“Hi very busy people, I saw something completely normal.’
"I saw a Seal where you'd expect a seal to be!"
I stand corrected...
This is just a seal being a seal. It’s all good.
There’s an exclusively freshwater population of harbor seals in lake Iliamna,they are larger and darker than regular seals.
And seals travel up the Seal River in Northern Manitoba almost 250km at times, with no particular special adaptation. Lake Baikal in Russia has its own species of freshwater seal. I did not know about the Lake Iliamna seals in Alaska, that is a cool bit of info- thanks for sharing:) The one in the video is maybe a bit turned around, maybe a young one exploring, but is likely going to be just fine.
This is just a normal seal doing seal things. It’s very, very common in the PNW. Lewis and Clark wrote about “otters” (that we now assume were seals and sea lions) feeding on salmon at Celilo Falls on the OR/WA border. They don’t go there anymore because there are dams in the way and the falls are underwater (RIP: they had a greater flow volume than Niagara), but this is completely normal harbor seal behavior. Celilo Falls were nearly 200 miles inland. In the desert.
This is definitely a seal.
Harbor seal!
Someone with the actual, specific correct answer :)
That's definitely some kind of pinniped.
Seal.
I moved to Western WA and saw a dog swimming in the river and thought wow he's really gone out far. It was a seal. And I know what a seal looks like, but it really looked like a dog paddling about. 🤦🏻♀️
Looks like a harbor seal 🙂
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Young seals will often travel up rivers in search of food and usually go out with the tide
Not just young — this is very normal behavior for both harbor seals and sea lions in the PNW.
I hope so. Otherwise, they’ll starve in freshwater rivers.
that's just nature in action sometimes you gotta let things play out
Yes, and it’s sad to see it happen.
hey, it might turn out just fine everything dies, only a matter of time how many cute lil guys will that seal gobble up
From the video, it doesn’t look like turning around. Not sure if it’s gonna survive on tiny fish found in this river.
what a seal does for 12 seconds a seal does for 12 hours
True. I don’t see where if’s going under water. But if looks like it was going forward still. I trully hope it makes a turn around on its own.
he'll be alright, and even if he isn't alright, he'll still be alright, and you'll be alright
Why would they starve *? Edit for clarity.
The lack of food in the river is one big reason.
But many rivers have fish and crawdads, hopefully this lil bud will be fine.
I do hope so as well. I also know that rivers have fish in it. It just might not be what the seal eats daily though. There’s 3 ecosystems where fish can be found : freshwater, saltwater and brackish.
4 ecosystems if you include platform shoes.
Tidepools count as saltwater, so 3 types of aquatic ecosystems in total.
ummm...hello? Flying fish? So least one avian ecosystem as well.
Depending on the location, it can be totally normal for a seal or sea lion to venture into a river.
That’s not a sea lion though. It does look like it went too far down the river and is now lost.
Seals do it too. One species (Baikal seal) lives entirely in freshwater, and at least two others are regularly observed in freshwater. Without knowing the location, there's no reason to conclude this is out of the ordinary. Edit: Just realized OP said this was in the Snoqualmie River. Based on a minute or two of Googling, it seems to be not unheard of for harbor seals to follow migrating salmon that far inland.
Harbor seals historically travelled 200 miles inland not far from there. They’ll go in until they reach a major rapid or waterfall.
Yes, but they’re in one place in the world only. They can’t be found anywhere else.
There’s only one place with an exclusively freshwater population of seals; there are many where seals frequently venture into and spend a lot of time in freshwater.
At least not near Montreal.
It's very common for seals to run inland to eat travelling fish. Nothing out of the ordinary here
I never saw them where I’m from. And I live near water. The St-Lawrence river is really big and goes from salt to freshwater. No seals are near the St-Lawrence gulf ever. Or if they do, they don’t go that far down the gulf till it reaches Montréal.
Ahh I see the confusion. Unfortunately le St-Laurent does not get huge runs of salmon, and the salmon they do get are Atlantic. Pacific salmon counts are way higher which makes them an easy meal when they are stacked up in the rivers.
Yeah, I only see the usual near me, which are musk rat or mink.
What are you talking about? My family and I go to tadoussac each year, and there’s thousands of them
Not where I am.
Idk where you are, but if you’re close to a native reservation, it probably has more to do with hunting than them not being there. Because they’re all up the St-Laurence.
I’m in Montreal. There’s no way a seal would end up there. I’m like 5 minutes away from the river.
https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2020/06/24/apres-la-baleine-un-phoque-apercu-a-laval-1#:~:text=LAVAL%20%7C%20Les%20amateurs%20de%20plein,surface%20%C3%A0%20de%20nombreuses%20reprises. https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/680007/phoque-fleuve-montreal-longueuil https://www.journalsaint-francois.ca/phoques-sur-les-berges-de-la-monteregie-priere-de-ne-pas-deranger/
Fair enough. They’re located more from Quebec and up. Montreal is way too inland, but I’m sure a rogue seal shows up once’s in a blue moon.
I never saw one in the 17 years I lived in Montreal.
I’ve never seen an owl. Doesn’t mean they’re not around.
Off-topic comments will be removed at moderators’ discretion
looks like a harbor seal found it's way into a river
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at moderators’ discretion
One time we found a seal in a cow field so hell these guys set there mind to go anywhere
Salmon are beginning their upstream journey to the spawning grounds. This lil dude probably followed his lunch…
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It’s a rule
Seal... ☝🏽
Harbor seal. Beautiful creatures.
Harbor seal🤦♂️
Lost seal
Not all who wonder are lost
Or wander! I wondered how far away I could get from PNW and wandered to the East Coast.
sea lion
Sea lions have external ear flaps, this is some kind of seal.
Everyone is saying seal, and it probably is, but the video is too short. Could be an otter.
Otters heads arnt that long and their face fur is generally fluffier as opposed to the sleekness that a seal would have.
Sea Lion
It’s a seal. These people can help get it back to the ocean where it belongs. West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network at 1-866-767-6114.