June 23, 2009 New England Aquarium welcomes newest residents Play video

(NECN: Scot Yount, Boston, Mass.) - The New England Aquarium has some new furry friends tonight. Several fur seals arrived today from New York. The seals will be part of the aquarium's new "Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center".

The New England Aquarium is welcoming three residents back after time out for construction of this ten million dollar new enclosure courtesy the New Balance Company shoe company.

Jenny Montague/asst curator for marine mammals New England Aquarium: "It has an extraordinary view of the harbor it connects the harbor with the aquarium."

And its first three residents have arrived. JD, Cordova and Ursula, three female fur seals.

Jenny Montague/asst curator for marine mammals New England Aquarium: "They are a threatened species that we will be able to get people excited about and from a trainer's stand point I find them just fascinating to work with."

I am told that is the sound of contentment. A trumpeting fanfare for some yummy squid and some pretty nice digs. Erin Clark tells us these fur seals are quite bright, with minds of their own.

Erin Clark/New England Aquarium: "They're individual personalities, they can be just as different as people can, for the same reasons they can have great days they can have attitude and really enjoy some things and not enjoy other things."

A fur seal's greatest asset is in fact its fur. It is where it gets its name, and it is the second thickest on the planet second only

to a sea otter. It is great for keeping them cold in icy waters but it was also terrible because it caused them to be hunted to near extinction in the 1800s and in fact around 1890 scientists thought there were extinct.

Tony Lacasse/New England Aquarium: "Their populations can come back fairly well in the 1900s but recently there has been a little bit of a dip and people are watching the population closely."

And that is in part why these seals have such an important role to play-ambassadors for the tremendous diversity of the sea.