First Seal Pup Born at Ukrainian Vernadsky Polar Station, Named After Legendary 'SeaBaby' Drone

Ukrainian polar explorers from the Akademik Vernadsky Antarctic station have chosen a name for a newborn seal pup from the Weddell Sea. It was named after the Ukrainian marine drone SeaBaby.

This was reported on social media by the Ukrainian National Antarctic Research Centre.

https://www.facebook.com/AntarcticCenter/posts/921037570059667?ref=embed_post

The cub's patronymic is Svitozarovych, as it was first discovered by biologist Svitozar Davydenko.

The SeaBaby name option was suggested by Olga Sabanska, a Facebook follower of the Centre. As a reward, she will receive a chevron of the 29th expedition.

In total, the Centre received almost 400 ideas for names for the newborn seal on Facebook and Instagram, including Watermelon, Penguin and Schnitzel.

The polar explorers noted that SeaBaby Svitozarovych seal is now 10 days old, ‘actively growing on his mother's milk’ and may soon start his first acquaintance with the ocean.

‘But these seals begin to live independently and feed in the water after the end of feeding - approximately 7 weeks after birth. So soon, the ‘sea babies’ will be not only in the Black Sea, but also in the Southern Ocean,’ the research centre said.

They added that another seal pup has been born near the Akademik Vernadsky station, in addition to SeaBaby. There are also four pregnant females there.

Akademik Vernadsky is the only Ukrainian Antarctic station. It is located at Cape Marina on Galindez Island, 7 km from the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is a permanent meteorological and geographical observatory. The main purpose of the station is to conduct scientific research in Antarctica. All activities of the station and the National Antarctic Research Centre are subordinated to this task.

The station was founded in 1947 as the British Faraday Station. In February 1996, the UK handed it over to Ukraine. The station was renamed in honour of the prominent Ukrainian scientist, academician Volodymyr Vernadsky, the first president of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.