Rasal the harbor seal with the prognosticating proboscis at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, has made her pick for Super Bowl 53: the New England Patriots.
— an announcement from the Maritime Aquarium
The 33-year-old female seal knows how to hold her nose against the hand of her Aquarium trainers, and also against a “target pole” and other objects, including the exhibit window.
On Tuesday, Jan. 29, the Aquarium seal exhibit was lined with alternating images of New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams helmets. When instructed to go to the exhibit window, Rasal decisively swam to — and held her nose against — a Patriots helmet, indicating her pick.
Rasal made The Maritime Aquarium seal pick this year following the death of Orange the seal (at age 35) in May 2018. (Orange had made five of the eight previous annual picks.)
But Rasal is no rookie: She made the first Aquarium seal pick back in 2012, incorrectly backing the Patriots, who lost to the Giants.
Rasal’s 2012 choice started a comical string of incorrect 50-50 picks. By picking incorrectly their five first years, the Aquarium’s seals became known for always getting the pick wrong.
But Orange’s final two picks — the Patriots in 2017 and the Eagles last year — have the seals on a two-year winning streak. Will New England beat the Rams and make it three in a row for the seals?
Photo from the Maritime Aquarium
Rasa opts.
Rasal is one of five harbor seals at the Maritime Aquarium. Tuesday’s Super Bowl selection was actually a fun variation on their public animal-husbandry demonstrations, which are presented daily at 11:45 a.m.,1:45 p.m. and 3:45 p.m.
For more details about animals, exhibits, programs and IMAX movies at the popular Connecticut family attraction, go to the Maritime Aquarium website.
Proboscis Prognosticating
To date, the Aquarium’s seals are 2-5 in their picks:
X • Rasal picked New England in 2012. The Giants won 21-17.
X • Orange chose the 49ers in 2013. The Ravens won 34-31.
X • Orange had the Broncos in 2014. The Seahawks crushed them, 43-8.
X • Polly came off the bench in 2015 & picked the Seahawks and would have been right if not for a boneheaded Seattle play call at the goal line as time ran out. The Patriots won 28-24.
X • Orange got the call again in 2016 and decidedly went for the Carolina Panthers, who were overrun by Denver 24-10.
√ • Orange selected New England in 2017 and, when the Patriots fell way behind, it looked like the seals’ perfect record of futility would be extended. But New England’s incredible fourth-quarter rally to beat Atlanta 34-28 gave the seals their first-ever correct pick.
√ • Orange jumped on the Nick Foles bandwagon last year and selected the Philadelphia Eagles, who topped the Patriots 41-33 and put Orange on a new kind of (winning) streak.
About Rasal
At 33 years old, Rasal is the Aquarium’s oldest harbor seal. She was found stranded as a pup in Maine in 1985 and rehabilitated at the New England Aquarium in Boston.
She later moved to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago and was there until 2005, when she came to The Maritime Aquarium.