The New Explorers. Series III; No. 307; Orphans of Time

<v Speaker>A Greek island worthy of Ulysses. <v Speaker>But these scientists are more interested in reality than myth. <v Speaker>[music playing] <v Speaker>Their mission into ancient caves could mean life or death for a species that's been <v Speaker>around longer than the Greek gods of Homer. <v Speaker>They wonder what they'll find. <v Speaker>Around the world, a similar mission trying to save the species in the Hawaiian Islands. <v Speaker>At times, the methods may seem drastic. <v Speaker>The monk seal, <v Speaker>the fate of this species may depend on these two teams of scientists on opposite <v Speaker>sides of the world. <v Speaker>For the monk seal, it could mean the difference between reality and myth. <v Speaker>[theme song playing]

<v Speaker>Major funding for The New Explorers is provided by Amico celebrating <v Speaker>the adventure of scientific discovery for the year 2000 and beyond. <v Speaker>Additional funding is made possible by Waste Management Inc. <v Speaker>Providing recycling and other waste services around the world and by

<v Speaker>Duracell. Embracing the power of science education. <v Speaker>The source of future technology and innovative growth. <v Speaker>Duracell. The Copper Top Battery. <v Speaker>Long before hotels sprouted here on Waikiki Beach and the air smelled of suntan <v Speaker>lotion, monk seals called this home. <v Speaker>They would crawl on the beach and have their babies. <v Speaker>But as humans invaded, they left. <v Speaker>Now, two small populations can be found in the world, one <v Speaker>on the far tip of the Hawaiian Islands. <v Speaker>The other in the Mediterranean. <v Speaker>It's not easy to intervene in nature's process, but this episode <v Speaker>of The New Explorers is about one such difficult decision. <v Speaker>What can scientists do to save the last remaining members <v Speaker>of a species? <v Speaker>The famous monk seal ?Theodoros?

<v Speaker>The monk seal that has been rehabilitated in our rehabilitation center, let's say, is the <v Speaker>mascot of this area. <v Speaker>It's morning on Alanissos Island here in Greece. <v Speaker>Biologist Vassilis Carrodus has awakened to find Theodoros <v Speaker>sunning himself in a nearby boat. [seal barking] [Carrodus mimicking] <v Speaker>He doesn't agree. <v Speaker>Veterinarian Dr. Lisse Vedder once helped nurse Theodorus goes back to health. <v Speaker>Since then, he has made friends from all over the world. <v Speaker>He's so smart. <v Speaker>Mammals that are able to survive in the sea, they are very good. <v Speaker>They're very intelligent. They they must know they are very powerful <v Speaker>and we should respect that. [music playing] <v Speaker>The monk seal is the oldest seal species 14 million years

<v Speaker>on Earth. At one time, three breeds could be seen swimming the world's waters <v Speaker>in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, and the Hawaiian Islands. <v Speaker>But the last century alone has brought a lot of changes. <v Speaker>Today, the Caribbean monk seal is gone forever. <v Speaker>The other two are highly endangered. <v Speaker>1,500 monk seals in the Hawaiian Islands, about 300 <v Speaker>in the Mediterranean. <v Speaker>Most scientists predict the Mediterranean monk seal will be extinct in 10 <v Speaker>years. <v Speaker>See you. <v Speaker>Lisse and Vassilis are more optimistic. <v Speaker>Today, they begin a 2 day voyage to the outer islands of the Northern Sporades. <v Speaker>Vassilis founded the Hellenic Society for the Study and Protection of Monk Seals in 1980. <v Speaker>He makes this trip often to see if there are any monk seals left. <v Speaker>And the most likely place to find them are in sea caves along the island's shore.

<v Speaker>And the crew has found an unexpected guest. <v Speaker>Theodorus. <v Speaker>Monk seals are endangered for many reasons, and they all start with people. <v Speaker>Here in the Mediterranean, tourists flock to the islands for the remote beauty, pushing <v Speaker>the seals out of their homes. <v Speaker>And commercial fishing is big business, making the seals' search for food <v Speaker>more difficult. <v Speaker>Their competitors, fishermen and monks seals are competitors. <v Speaker>The monk seals are creating some damages to the nets and they're eating <v Speaker>the fishes that they're caught in their nets. <v Speaker>So the fishermen, they want to kill them. <v Speaker>Pollution may be the biggest issue of all. <v Speaker>The Mediterranean Sea is very polluted. <v Speaker>Among the worst in the world. <v Speaker>That's what has drawn Dr. Vedder here and is at the heart of her work back home.

<v Speaker>The pollution, people like to say. <v Speaker>Compared to last year, this this concentration has gone down or something. <v Speaker>You know, but every concentration at this moment is on top of what there already is. <v Speaker>And then in the food chain, in the body of the seal, it's accumulating. <v Speaker>There must be a way to to to live in balance. <v Speaker>The people, the animals in the sea. <v Speaker>Home for Dr. Vedder is the Netherlands. <v Speaker>That's where she first met Vassilis 6 years ago when 2 Mediterranean monk seals <v Speaker>were being treated. As a veterinarian at Peter Byrne Seal Research and Rehabilitation <v Speaker>Center, she sees a lot of seals. <v Speaker>Many of them are harbor seals from the North Sea, but their problems match those of the <v Speaker>monk seal. Problems that lately, Lisse has found surprising and alarming. <v Speaker>This young seal was admitted 9 days ago coughing up blood. <v Speaker>What we see is that they, um, have little resistance.

<v Speaker>They get easily sick. <v Speaker>Uh we see already 6 seals at the age of <v Speaker>2, 3, 4, 5, 6 weeks old, but in a way that we never have seen them 20 <v Speaker>years before. <v Speaker>Something is making these seals sick. <v Speaker>But what is it? <v Speaker>?inaudible?. <v Speaker>Lisse is here to ask a friend, virologist Dr. Albert Osterhaus. <v Speaker>We always took care of him. <v Speaker>[laughing] His primary work is in human viruses, including the search for a vaccine for <v Speaker>AIDS. But he is also involved with seals. <v Speaker>In 1988, over 20,000 seals in northwest Europe died from a <v Speaker>mysterious virus. Dr. Osterhaus and Dr. Vedder worked together to identify <v Speaker>the virus and develop a vaccine in just 4 months. <v Speaker>Today, they are battling a new problem. <v Speaker>One they think may relate to pollution. <v Speaker>Their hypothesis is that the seals' immune systems are being affected by the polluted

<v Speaker>fish they eat. <v Speaker>If we can prove, indeed, that the fish that the animals are eating causes actually <v Speaker>a a um causes that the animals do not react as well towards virus <v Speaker>infection, for instance. That's really a serious thing. <v Speaker>And then we should really get worried about what's happening to humans as well. <v Speaker>To test the theory, a number of healthy harbor seals have been brought in from the ocean <v Speaker>and divided into two groups. <v Speaker>Half are fed dirty fish from the polluted Baltic Sea, the rest clean <v Speaker>fish from the less polluted Atlantic Ocean. <v Speaker>Blood samples from the seals are then taken every two months and compared. <v Speaker>They don't like to be caught, but as soon as their head is covered, <v Speaker>they mostly are quiet. <v Speaker>We found that when you want to have real changes, political changes, <v Speaker>you need proof, scientific proof.

<v Speaker>That's why we have this uh project going on and uh we hope we can do a lot more <v Speaker>for the seals after we have the results. <v Speaker>At this point in the study, the results do confirm the hypothesis. <v Speaker>Pollution is affecting the seals' immune systems. <v Speaker>If pollution endangers the widespread harbor seal, imagine the threat it poses to <v Speaker>the monk seal with a population a fraction of the size. <v Speaker>But Lisse has hope. That's why she has helped Vassilis develop a rehab center on <v Speaker>Alanissos Island. She's also working with environmental groups in Turkey, Spain, <v Speaker>and Morocco to do the same. <v Speaker>For any of this to matter, though, there must be monk seals still alive. <v Speaker>That's what they hope to find out on this trip. <v Speaker>[music playing]. <v Speaker>Thousands of miles away, the Hawaiian monk seal faces many of the same threats <v Speaker>as its Mediterranean cousin. But add one more to the top of the list. <v Speaker>They're killing each other. [dramatic music playing] <v Speaker>It's called ?mobbing?.

<v Speaker>Up to 2 dozen males have been known to try and mount the female at one time. <v Speaker>The result is often injury or death. <v Speaker>How do you stop it? That's where Dr. Shannon Atkinson comes in. <v Speaker>Her specialty is animal reproduction at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, <v Speaker>University of Hawaii. Wildlife biologists at the National Marine Fisheries Service <v Speaker>ask her to work with them on a plan to stop mobbing. <v Speaker>For 1 male to mount 1 female and to make a few scratches. <v Speaker>Um, they hang on with their teeth anyways, that's normal. <v Speaker>Um, but when it starts being repeated several males and it starts really inflicting <v Speaker>injury, then it is a major problem. <v Speaker>But what causes it? Shannon suspects that the female's reproductive cycle <v Speaker>may have something to do with it. <v Speaker>Until she can find the answer, the scientists can only take care of the survivors. <v Speaker>Like these young females, they're being rehabilitated here at Sea Life Park, where

<v Speaker>they'll stay for nearly a year until they can survive on their own and return to the <v Speaker>wild. <v Speaker>Here you go, eat your vitamin. [music playing] <v Speaker>[seal noises] Ah, don't panic, buddy. <v Speaker>Right on the nose. Good shot, Bill. [laughing] <v Speaker>Girls, that's it, I'm sorry. <v Speaker>[seal noises] It was good, wasn't it? <v Speaker>Lambchop is the one adult female at Sea Life Park, and Dr. Atkinson will try to determine <v Speaker>her cycle using a new technique. <v Speaker>Solo is just wrapping a junior sized tampon around the stick here to <v Speaker>observe saliva from her mouth. <v Speaker>What we are training them to do is to give us a saliva sample <v Speaker>on demand. Now we want saliva because it's a less invasive, <v Speaker>if not almost noninvasive method of collecting a biological

<v Speaker>fluid that we can measure hormones in. <v Speaker>Up to now, blood samples have been used. <v Speaker>If the saliva yields the same results, Shannon may be able to use the less invasive <v Speaker>and less painful way. <v Speaker>The answers will be found in the lab on Coconut Island. <v Speaker>You may recognize it. It's best known as the home of television's Gilligan's Island. <v Speaker>Today, it's a marine refuge. <v Speaker>I talked with Shannon along the way. <v Speaker>Can you remember back to the first time you decided to become a scientist? <v Speaker>Was it in school, first grade? That kind of thing? <v Speaker>I was the kind of kid that always brought home the stray animals. <v Speaker>I was the kind of kid that um couldn't have enough animals around. <v Speaker>And when it came to science, I did pretty well. <v Speaker>I enjoyed it. <v Speaker>Um, my dad wanted me to be a doctor, not the right kind of animals. <v Speaker>[laughing] <v Speaker>What we have here are the plasma samples from the females that we collected yesterday.

<v Speaker>Shannon's running tests on Lambchop's blood and saliva to determine her levels of <v Speaker>estrogen, a female sex hormone. <v Speaker>Taking these tests over a period of time will confirm the seal's reproductive cycle. <v Speaker>Each will be plotted in the computer and compared. <v Speaker>And if you look at these two plots, what's your feeling? <v Speaker>Looks almost identical. <v Speaker>That's exactly right. <v Speaker>So instead of having to go through all that to take the blood, you'll be able to take the <v Speaker>saliva, which is much easier. <v Speaker>Yes. <v Speaker>Wonderful. <v Speaker>Most important, Dr. Atkinson has confirmed that the females will be most fertile <v Speaker>and most attractive to the males from April to July. <v Speaker>She can now consider 3 solutions to the mobbing crisis. <v Speaker>One is to ignore it and hope it cures itself. <v Speaker>One is to physically remove male seals from these islands and <v Speaker>return the sex ratio to what should be normal. <v Speaker>Approximately 1 to 1. <v Speaker>And the third is to try some management intervention by administering

<v Speaker>a drug to these animals that will suppress their behavior. <v Speaker>That last one is the one we're working on. <v Speaker>If it works, the Hawaiian monk seal may have a chance. <v Speaker>[music playing] <v Speaker>This male monk seal is enjoying the ride. An afternoon on the Aegean. <v Speaker>Theodorus loves people, but it may have gone too far. <v Speaker>It's a wrong example of rehabilitation because he got too much <v Speaker>involved with us. <v Speaker>The first time we had the monks seals at Peter Byrne, we had 2 together and that was <v Speaker>very, very lucky because they had each other. <v Speaker>So, socially, they behaved towards each other and not to us. <v Speaker>But Theodorus was unlucky to be alone, and he was even more unlucky <v Speaker>because after his releasing, after a couple of weeks, we found him back and he had been <v Speaker>probably attacked by a fellow male, and his wounds were very bad <v Speaker>and we had to treat him again. So he was a lot more in

<v Speaker>our hands than normally would be. <v Speaker>And of course, we are not mistreating a seal to show him he should be afraid <v Speaker>of man. So he started to like them because they were mainly girls who <v Speaker>also nursed him. He started to like especially the women and the, well, <v Speaker>being back in Holland after his releasing we we found that we got the stories by <v Speaker>telephone first that he was showing up on the beach and uh laying on a towel <v Speaker>and choosing the best girl of the beach. <v Speaker>I had laughed a little bit about it and said, well, I have to see it. <v Speaker>I don't believe you. But he chose for it. <v Speaker>He loved the people. <v Speaker>And what can you do? I mean, and maybe afterwards. <v Speaker>Of course, you try to live with it. <v Speaker>And you say, well, he's probably the best, the best, the best public relation, the best <v Speaker>advertisments he can do for his own species. <v Speaker>Had enough for today, Theodorus has decided he's too far from home. <v Speaker>We'll have to make the rest of the trip on our own.

<v Speaker>Our destination is in sight the outer islands of the Northern Sporades may be <v Speaker>the last refuge for monk seals in the Aegean. <v Speaker>20 years ago, there were 50 to 60 monk seals in these waters. <v Speaker>Now maybe 25. <v Speaker>Thanks to Vassilis Carradus' hard work, this area is a national marine park. <v Speaker>We'll drop anchor and pedal to the caves in a dinghy. <v Speaker>I would like to ask you that you are coming with us now to this visit that <v Speaker>you have to keep quiet as much as possible, not even say <v Speaker>a name or not even when you see a seal and you feel, you know, excited, <v Speaker>don't turn to me and say, "oh, there's a seal there". <v Speaker>I know that it will be a seal there. <v Speaker>But I want you to keep quiet and just to use your hands to wave to me. <v Speaker>Nothing else. Otherwise we shall disturb the animal. <v Speaker>And of course, the animal will leave. <v Speaker>And we don't want to disturb the animals. <v Speaker>It's rare to see monk seals.

<v Speaker>There are so few to see, but any evidence of them will make this trip a success. <v Speaker>The team will look for seal tracks or even their scent. <v Speaker>These will tell them that seals have been using the caves. <v Speaker>Nothing. No seals. <v Speaker>Vassilis' team uses different methods to determine the concentration of monk seals.

<v Speaker>One is direct observation, what you can see with your own eyes. <v Speaker>Another uses cameras like this one. <v Speaker>It automatically takes pictures of any new animals and documents <v Speaker>seal behavior. <v Speaker>You can see the head, the body. <v Speaker>Seals have been here recently. The shapes of their bodies are in the sand, seal tracks, <v Speaker>and you can smell them. <v Speaker>I think that's a small one. <v Speaker>It looks like a small animal, yeah. <v Speaker>But for now, no seals. <v Speaker>The search continues. <v Speaker>So if you're ready up there, we're gonna go in. <v Speaker>OK, here we go. <v Speaker>Back in Hawaii, Dr. Atkinson is trying to suppress the males mobbing behavior by <v Speaker>injecting a drug. <v Speaker>She takes monthly blood samples from the number of males to determine their levels of

<v Speaker>testosterone, the male sex hormone. <v Speaker>In the future, the saliva test may work for males as well as females. <v Speaker>Can you guys get off? <v Speaker>Ready? Yeah. All right. Go, here we go. <v Speaker>[laughing] <v Speaker>One of their best mechanisms for getting away is to roll, like that. <v Speaker>And so you want to make sure that you're ready for them to roll <v Speaker>in whatever direction it's going to happen. <v Speaker>Now, these are the CRAMs. Aren't they? <v Speaker>These are the CRAMs. <v Speaker>CRAM stands for a convicted rapist and murderer. <v Speaker>These are the mobbers. <v Speaker>Bill you're in, great. <v Speaker>Good job. <v Speaker>Thank you. <v Speaker>Ever been bitten, Shannon? <v Speaker>No, I haven't. <v Speaker>John? Yes, not by a big one.

<v Speaker>But then I play with the tail. Not with the head. <v Speaker>This is ?Z?. <v Speaker>If Shannon's right, the male's testosterone will peak at the same time the females <v Speaker>are ovulating. So, the drugs must be injected into the males <v Speaker>prior to the breeding season. Late February or March. <v Speaker>We're done back here. Off you go. <v Speaker>Yeah. <v Speaker>The news is promising. To date, one injected captive male has been placed <v Speaker>in Lambchop's pin and has shown little interest in her. <v Speaker>Next step, injecting males in the wild. <v Speaker>It's already underway. <v Speaker>Intervention is working. <v Speaker>Dr. Atkinson has taken the first steps to help stabilize the female's numbers. <v Speaker>The Hawaiian monk seal has a chance to survive. <v Speaker>But in Greece, Lisse and Vassilis have visited 6 caves and have not seen <v Speaker>a monk seal yet.

<v Speaker>But this one seems different. <v Speaker>Far to the back, there are black forms. <v Speaker>Shapes that could be... <v Speaker>Yes, there one moves. It is a seal. <v Speaker>And others to the left and pups underneath. <v Speaker>They must be very quiet, not wanting to disturb, but <v Speaker>inside Vassilis must be bursting. <v Speaker>Another pup and beyond. <v Speaker>For Lisse to come all this way and be able to see this. <v Speaker>[music playing] <v Speaker>That was incredible.

<v Speaker>It's the first time in my whole life that I'm working with seal team in the twelve <v Speaker>years now that I saw that scene. <v Speaker>It was incredible for me, for ?inaudible? animals, one about 2 and a <v Speaker>half month pup, one 10 days- 15 <v Speaker>days pup, and another just been born. <v Speaker>Not more than 24 hours, 48 hours. <v Speaker>Two pups and one just born. <v Speaker>It's because I'm with you. <v Speaker>Yes. We don't know what we're doing now. We're just paddling. <v Speaker>7 monk seals in one cave. <v Speaker>It's almost too much to dream, but it means the work will go on. <v Speaker>I was amazed. <v Speaker>And I was so excited that uh even I forget <v Speaker>what they had to do in such a case that I mean I had to see the <v Speaker>individuals and recognize them and keep in my mind the difference between <v Speaker>the animals.

<v Speaker>So to be able to distinguish the animals later if I see them again. <v Speaker>But I forget everything. <v Speaker>Well, something like this. I'm sure I'm not going to sleep tonight, so I have to think it <v Speaker>over. I mean, what it means and then, yes, it's just it's wonderful. <v Speaker>It's just it's something inside that I cannot <v Speaker>express it with or with words. But it gives a very happy feeling that it is still <v Speaker>possible to see this, that kind of thing. <v Speaker>It gives hope. <v Speaker>Major funding for The New Explorers is provided by Amico celebrating

<v Speaker>the adventure of scientific discovery for the year 2000 and beyond. <v Speaker>Additional funding is made possible by Waste Management Inc. <v Speaker>Providing recycling and other waste services around the world <v Speaker>and by Duracell. Embracing the power of science education. <v Speaker>The source of future technology and innovative growth. <v Speaker>Duracell, the copper top battery. <v Speaker>A videocassette and accompanying teacher's guide are available for each episode of The <v Speaker>New Explorers. To order, call 1 800 6 2 1 0 6 6 0 or write <v Speaker>The New Explorers 1 5 1 8 1 Route 58 South Oberlin, Ohio <v Speaker>4 4 0 7 4.