• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Brainy Baby Seals

Brainy Baby Seals

June 5, 2013
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/130605_sciup_seal.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):

Little seals with big heads. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Life is tough for newborn Weddell seals. They have just six weeks to learn how to hunt beneath Antarctic sea ice before their mothers leave them to fend for themselves.

REGINA EISERT (Smithsonian Institution/University of Canterbury):

Most marine mammals will not enter closed ice because they are afraid of drowning. Basically if you don’t find your exit, you’re dead.

HIRSHON:

That’s comparative physiologist Regina Eisert of the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. She and her colleagues have now discovered the key to the baby seals’ rapid learning: big brains.

EISERT:

The newborn Weddell pup has a brain that is around 70% of the adult brain. The largest brain of any mammal studied to date relative to its adult size.

HIRSHON:

She says in contrast, the brains of human babies are only about 25% of their adult size. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society. 

A 5-week-old Weddell seal pup and its mother on sea ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. By around 6 weeks of age, the pup will have to hunt for itself under closed sea ice. (Regina Eisert)
Category: Daily Show, Station DownloadTag: Animal Behavior, Genetics & Evolution, Wildlife
Previous Post:Obesity & Gut Bacteria
Next Post:Chemotherapy & Infertility

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Cat Video
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • NASA
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Image of computer screen depicting an orange cat with a variety of alphanumeric scientific data superimposed on the the screen.
Spotted skunk performing handstand to threaten predators

Copyright © 2025 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos