You know what it’s like when the new neighbours are moving in. From behind the net curtains you peer at their arrival, wondering if they’ll be friendly, if they’ll be noisy.
And when is the appropriate time to, oh so casually, “drop in” with an invitation to supper a fish supper, of course. When you’re desperate to meet your new best friend, there’s nothing that can stand in your way.
And that’s equally true for 90kg seal Laurel who scaled a four-foot fence to get to meet Togo who’d moved in from Denmark only the day before.
Staff at St Andrews Aquarium were keeping the pair apart until Togo settled in but 20-year-old Laurel, who lost her faithful companion Hardy in a freak storm in 2010, had her own ideas about that.
Seals are wildly sociable creatures, but bosses at the aquarium have been left gobsmacked by Laurel’s great escape to welcome the one-year-old seal pup.
Togo, who was flown to Fife just last week, was in a separate pool to allow him time to adjust to his new surroundings. Laurel was the “girl next door” in a neighbouring pool, but separated by four foot high metal fencing.
Aquarium bosses had planned to formally introduce the two earlier this week, but Laurel decided to take the plunge last Friday evening, and got to know her new playmate all by herself.
Fifteen minutes after the aquarium closed its doors to the public, Laurel took matters into her own flippers. This security camera footage shows her making several unsuccessful bids to scale the fencing.
She is hampered by her sheer size. But a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do and, despite some setbacks, Laurel quickly masters the art of ladder climbing using just her front flippers to hoist her heavy body on to the top of the barrier.
Seesawing slightly on the top rung she eventually topples over the fence to the other side to meet Togo.
Manager John Mace said staff couldn’t believe their eyes when they came in on Saturday morning to find Laurel and Togo who got his name after the city of Esbjerg raised $1.6 million for the country as part of a campaign for UNICEF swimming around together.
“There was evidence that the fencing was slightly damaged, but when we watched back the security camera footage we just couldn’t believe what we were seeing,” he said. “Laurel was clearly determined to get in to see Togo and obviously wasn’t going to let metal security fencing stand in her way!”
Togo and Laurel have spent the week getting to know each other. Once the barriers were down, Togo ventured into the bigger pool and the two have been playing happily.
Laurel had been left bereft when Hardy was swept off as gale force winds battered Fife last year.
Togo’s arrival into Aberdeen Airport on Thursday caused quite a stir with both passengers and staff. Airline bmi Regional was able to transport him from Esbjerg to his new home in Scotland, cutting the anticipated duration of his journey from 48 hours to just eight hours.
Togo even has his own Twitter profile now @togotheseal