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SOMETHING ‘EGG’-CITING IS HAPPENING THIS EASTER HOLIDAY AT SEAQUARIUM

SeaQuarium are pleased and excited to announce a new arrival this Easter - a two-year-old South African fur seal.

The cute new arrival is called Nelly and was born in Frankfurt Zoo, weighing in at a mere 6kg. She has recently been introduced to the other seals in Sealion Cove at the Rhyl attraction, after undergoing a 12-week quarantine period back in October. As Nelly was settling in well, the keepers made the decision to mix her with the other seals in the main pools and she has proved a popular addition to the group.

SeaQuarium Marine Mammal Keeper, Gareth Mead said: “Nelly is the first young fur seal to have arrived at SeaQuarium since 2009, when the Sealion Cove first opened to the public. After Nelly’s quarantine period we slowly introduced her to the other girls one at a time. All of the seals were very curious but thankfully very friendly towards her, especially Sefur.”

He added, “Nelly is eating well and now weighs around 42kg and enjoys swimming and interacting with her older playmates. She is full of energy and is really keeping our older seals on their flippers, especially Tondy, who has become her favourite playmate. She is like a toddler as she’s very curious and wants to stick her nose into everything”. 

“Nelly is being revealed to the public during the shows, just in time for our Easter event. Everyone is so excited to have her involved in the Easter Eggstravaganza seal shows this year,” Gareth added. 

From Saturday 19th March to Sunday 10th April, Rhyl SeaQuarium will be holding a host of extra Easter activities for the whole family. There will be talks and demonstrations throughout the day, where visitors can learn more about the weird and wonderful creatures that live in and around the oceans. Guests can also watch Nelly, along with our other seals, in our special Easter-themed shows at 1pm and 3pm daily, as well as seal encounters by our resident fur seals.

During the Easter celebrations, visitors can also help feed the harbour seals at 12pm and 4pm. Both of the seal species are part of the pinniped family, which translates to “winged-footed”. The main differences between the two species are that the South African fur seals have large front flippers and a rotatable back hip joint. This allows them to move about easily on land, whereas the harbour seals’ flippers are smaller and their back hip joint is fixed, so they are much slower and move more like a caterpillar. 

Over the Easter event there will also be an Easter Eggsplorers free Craft Club, where children can make their very own Easter Bonnet. There is also a chargeable ‘Eggsplorers’ trail that visitors will be encouraged to follow, to unscramble a secret Easter password and win a chocolate treat. There is an exciting, free competition to win ‘Star of the Seal Show’ - all visitors need to do is find the missing golden egg, capture a photo with it and upload the photo to the SeaQuarium Rhyl Facebook page.

During the Easter holidays all of SeaQuarium’s exhibits will be open as usual. Standard admission prices are £9.50 for adults and £8.50 for children. Rhyl SeaQuarium is located on the promenade in Rhyl and opens at 10am daily with last admissions at 5pm. Further information is available from SeaQuarium’s official website: www.seaquarium.co.uk or by telephone on 01745 344660.