Meet Cocoa! Born to Mango on June 10, 2018, Cocoa was the first seal pup to ever be born at our Hersheypark location in Pennsylvania.  She was born in the early morning hours and was swimming almost immediately after birth.  She spent her first few weeks bonding with her mother and achieving important milestones including nursing, diving, and swimming efficiently! Harbor seal pups only nurse for 3-5 weeks.  Thanks to the very fatty milk which mothers produce, pups grow very quickly almost tripling their birth weight in a month.  In the wild, mother harbor seals leave their pups after the first few weeks to fend for themselves and learn to eat fish.  That extra fat on the pups has them well prepared for the challenges they will face.  In human care, life is kinder.  We separated Cocoa from her mother at 4 weeks of age and began introducing her to fish (both live and dead).  Initially she played with them.  We patiently waited for instinct to kick in as the drive to catch and eat them developed.  At approximately 6 weeks of age, this behavior happened in Cocoa and after she started consistently eating fish we began her training.

Cocoa is learning and growing every single day! She loves exploring and getting into mischief similar to every other youngster!  Cocoa's formal training is well underway and she knows over a dozen different behaviors. Training is a wonderful learning game and our not-so-little pup is having a blast playing it! You can visit Cocoa at Hersheypark during regular show times which can be found by clicking here.  She is certain to delight you!