Seal Chooses Chiefs To Win Super Bowl LVII At Maritime Aquarium

NORWALK, CT — As anticipation for Super Bowl LVII heats up this week and fans get ready to cheer for either Kansas City or Philadelphia, a harbor seal at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk has already predicted which team will win out Sunday.

Rasal, one of the aquarium's seven resident harbor seals, chose the Chiefs during their 12th annual Seal Super Bowl Pick event Thursday afternoon.

In years past, Rasal retrieved footballs and other objects from the surface of the water of Pinniped Cove, the aquarium's harbor seal exhibit, to make her Super Bowl picks.

This year, the 37-year-old harbor seal dove deep into the waters of the exhibit to retrieve one of two toy torpedos (one red for the Chiefs and one green for the Eagles) and bring it back to Senior Trainer Dylan Salamone, thus making her choice.

After a tense few moments of anticipation, Rasal emerged from the water carrying a red torpedo, announcing to the world in Groundhog Day-like fashion that the Chiefs are sure to beat the Eagles this weekend.

"I'm pretty excited," Salamone said to Patch. "Based on my own fanbase, I'm pretty excited she didn't pick the Eagles, but I'm definitely just excited for her to make a decision."

Salamone also noted red is the first color to disappear inside of the water spectrum at deep depths.

"Though it's only about 18 feet to the bottom of [Pinniped Cove], it's not really something they have in their palette," Salamone said, "so I'm not sure what drew her to the Chiefs, but that's her pick."

To prepare Rasal for her dive, the aquarium's animal husbandry team worked with her during daily training sessions to learn the behavior in stages.

First, she learned the toy torpedoes representing the two teams were objects of interest, then worked on retrieving them, first from the surface of the water and later from deeper depths, according to press materials provided by the aquarium.

"It's great to be able to talk to guests and show off how smart she is," Salamone said. "She picked up this behavior so quickly. Their intelligence, their ability to do this and problem solve, it's incredible."

Last year, Rasal picked the Cincinnati Bengals to triumph over the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI (they didn't), and in 2019 she picked the New England Patriots to beat the Rams in Super Bowl LIII (they did).

In 2020, Rasal chose the San Francisco 49ers to win, however the team lost to the Kansas City Chiefs by a score of 31-20. She also picked the New England Patriots to win the big game back in 2012, however they ultimately lost to the New York Giants by a score of 21-17.

Other seals at the aquarium have made picks in pervious years.

"The whole purpose around these types of training sessions and the behaviors is really about stimulation with the animal," Salamone said. "It's about engaging with them and having them work on something, so the behaviors are really great for the guests to see."

Whether the Chiefs bring enough "rasal-dazzle" with them to this year's Super Bowl will be decided Sunday night as they face off against the Eagles in Arizona.

Do you think Rasal got it right this year? Let Patch know in the comments who you think will win Super Bowl LVII.