It is true that many well-trained, talented young people in central New York are leaving the state and their families for better prospects elsewhere. However, in Auburn native John Maniscalco's case, his move to Alaska couldn't really be helped.
Glenn Gaston / Special to The Citizen
Native Auburnian John Maniscalco studies Stellar seal lions in Alaska.
Native Auburnian John Maniscalco studies Stellar seal lions in Alaska.
It's hard to study endangered Steller sea lions in their natural habitat if you're in Auburn.
Despite his move 4,417.93 miles away, Maniscalco has proved that he never stops thinking about his hometown by dubbing one of his Steller sea lion subjects “Auburn.”
This name was chosen because every year for the past few years, the staff at the Alaska SeaLife Center, where Maniscalco works, has had a different theme for naming the sea lions. This year's theme was cities, and Maniscalco wanted one named after his hometown. Yet he never expected that Auburn the sea lion would end up so unique.
“We have several projects, and the one I run is monitoring the lions through these remote cameras that we have on islands studying their behavior,” explained Maniscalco about his job. He is in charge of the remote video monitoring project.
Although a native son doing such an incredible job is newsworthy in itself, Auburn the sea lion is the one who has stolen the show. In a display of true integrity, Auburn rescued a fellow see lion's newborn pup at the center after losing her own to the same sea lion, known as Kansas. Both lions were ready to give birth on the same day, June 6. Auburn gave birth first, but Kansas was ready for motherhood and took Auburn's pup as her own. Auburn chased after her newborn like a Doubleday after a sacrifice fly, but Kansas would not give it up.
Later, Kansas gave birth but ignored her newborn and turned her attention back to Auburn's pup. Kansas' pup slipped down the rocks to the surf, but in a wave of heroism, Auburn rescued it and brought it back up to the rookery, where she also attempted to retrieve her own newborn from Kansas, to no avail.
“She lost her pup as soon as she gave birth. When this other female gave birth, she ignored her own pup, and eventually Auburn went in and adopted the other pup; we've never seen anything like that before,” Maniscalco said.
Since the incident, both pups have started nursing with their alternative mothers, so it appears that Auburn will keep Kansas' offspring. The event was recorded on video and both mothers can be tracked through their distinctive markings. Maniscalco and his fellow biologists hope that they can also track the pups.
“We do go out in the summer one day to mark the pups - it's permanent so we can follow them throughout their lifetime, get estimates on their survival, where they're moving to, etc.,” Maniscalco said. As a sea life biologist for the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, he also helps out with other projects in the field, including capturing juvenile sea lions at sea.
During his career, he has also traveled to Russia to help with national sea lion studies.
On the Net
Visit the Alaska SeaLife Center's Web site at www.alaskasealife.org
to view streamingreal-time live video of what the staff is researching; a high speed connection is required to view the video.
Despite his move 4,417.93 miles away, Maniscalco has proved that he never stops thinking about his hometown by dubbing one of his Steller sea lion subjects “Auburn.”
This name was chosen because every year for the past few years, the staff at the Alaska SeaLife Center, where Maniscalco works, has had a different theme for naming the sea lions. This year's theme was cities, and Maniscalco wanted one named after his hometown. Yet he never expected that Auburn the sea lion would end up so unique.
“We have several projects, and the one I run is monitoring the lions through these remote cameras that we have on islands studying their behavior,” explained Maniscalco about his job. He is in charge of the remote video monitoring project.
Although a native son doing such an incredible job is newsworthy in itself, Auburn the sea lion is the one who has stolen the show. In a display of true integrity, Auburn rescued a fellow see lion's newborn pup at the center after losing her own to the same sea lion, known as Kansas. Both lions were ready to give birth on the same day, June 6. Auburn gave birth first, but Kansas was ready for motherhood and took Auburn's pup as her own. Auburn chased after her newborn like a Doubleday after a sacrifice fly, but Kansas would not give it up.
Later, Kansas gave birth but ignored her newborn and turned her attention back to Auburn's pup. Kansas' pup slipped down the rocks to the surf, but in a wave of heroism, Auburn rescued it and brought it back up to the rookery, where she also attempted to retrieve her own newborn from Kansas, to no avail.
“She lost her pup as soon as she gave birth. When this other female gave birth, she ignored her own pup, and eventually Auburn went in and adopted the other pup; we've never seen anything like that before,” Maniscalco said.
Since the incident, both pups have started nursing with their alternative mothers, so it appears that Auburn will keep Kansas' offspring. The event was recorded on video and both mothers can be tracked through their distinctive markings. Maniscalco and his fellow biologists hope that they can also track the pups.
“We do go out in the summer one day to mark the pups - it's permanent so we can follow them throughout their lifetime, get estimates on their survival, where they're moving to, etc.,” Maniscalco said. As a sea life biologist for the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, he also helps out with other projects in the field, including capturing juvenile sea lions at sea.
During his career, he has also traveled to Russia to help with national sea lion studies.
On the Net
Visit the Alaska SeaLife Center's Web site at www.alaskasealife.org
to view streamingreal-time live video of what the staff is researching; a high speed connection is required to view the video.
