Seal-ed with a kiss

To be more accurate, sea-lioned with a kiss. The sea lions at the Beauval zoo put on a little show daily. They do lots of swimming, jumping, balancing of balls on noses, fetching, clapping and barking, and kissing. It's a nice demonstration of the agility and intelligence of these big marine creatures. A sea lion is une otarie in French.

Awwwwwww.

The commentary during the show is very heavy on the ecological. For example, at one point one sea lion fetches a plastic water bottle that someone has carelessly "discarded in the ocean." He takes it to the keeper who then tosses it into a waste can. But something is wrong. The sea lion barks and barks and finally jumps up onto the platform. He retrieves the bottle from the waste can and deposits it in the adjacent recycle bin. The narrator reminds the audience to look for the recycle bins throughout the park and be sure to separate trash from recyclables. Lesson learned.

All the animals have names, but I don't remember any of them. The keepers have names, too. I don't remember those, either.