Animal Planet's 'The Aquarium' Helps Nervous Seal Named Floyd to Use the Elevator in Exclusive Sneak Peek

Animal Planet's new series, The Aquarium, is giving a behind the scenes look at the animals and [...]

Animal Planet's new series, The Aquarium, is giving a behind the scenes look at the animals and conservation efforts of the Georgia Aquarium, and it's no surprise the footage is simply adorable.

In an exclusive sneak peek of the docuseries' Sunday, May 26 episode, Georgia Aquarium trainer Aubrey McCrary is working hard to get the facilities' harbor seals comfortable with riding on an elevator in preparation for a big move to their new habitat.

"Currently, our seals are in our harbor seal and beluga whale habitat," she explains. "But they will be moving to a special area in a different part of the aquarium where we temporarily house some of our sea lions and our seals. It's only for a short period of time."

"So what we've been working on is having them walk over to our elevator — which is not something that would be intuitive that you would do with a harbor seal," the trainer continues. "We're asking them into this space, and we're gonna be there with them the entire time, making sure that they're comfortable too."

It's a difficult task in and of itself, and one fueled by plenty of fish rewards and patient coaxing for the seals, but even the delicious reward isn't enough to coax the nervous Floyd into the elevator.

Looking around at the strange situation in which he is being asked to enter, the scared seal is quick to get his reward before making a beeline back to the pool.

"Floyd is our most reactive animal to things moving in the environment," McCrary says after one moderately successful attempt to get the harbor seal near the elevator. "If he's showing us that he needs to go back to the pool for a moment, that's OK. It's just perplexing sometimes."

With patience, plenty of snacks and a pinch of luck, will the trainers be able to coax Floyd out of his shell and into the elevator?

The Aquarium airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Animal Planet.

Photo credit: Animal Planet

0comments