Sliding sea lion serenely soothes spectators at Japanese aquarium【Video】

10:44 cherishe 0 Comments

Aquariums can be a lot of fun for visitors, but on this day no one was having a better time than this adorable marine mammal.

Do animals really have a firm concept of entertainment? Sure, walk into any pet shop and you’ll find toys for dogs and cats, but most of them have some sort of relation to chasing, catching, or biting, all things which all have connections to hunting, and thus survival, instincts.

And yet, it’s hard to imagine any reason for this sea lion in Japan to be sliding back and forth on her tummy than because it’s having an incredible amount of fun.

落水清掃中。カリフォルニアアシカ・リサちゃんの腹すべり。#桂浜水族館 https://t.co/vOiDmDh8DM
—
れお (@sumineko_L) September 27, 2016

As identified by video uploader @sumineko_L, that’s Risa, a California sea lion and resident of the Katsurahama Aquarium in Kochi Prefecture, on Japan’s island of Shikoku. Ordinarily, this part of Risa’s habitat is filled with water for her to swim about it, but the pool periodically has to be drained for cleaning, which is why it’s dry in the video. That doesn’t mean Risa has no reason to hang out there, though, and the aquarium’s official account even tweeted back that this is something she looks forward to every time the pool gets scrubbed.

She certainly seems to be having a great time, as no sooner does she come to a stop than she reverses direction, builds up a bit of momentum, and slides back to the other end of the pool, keeping her eyes on the aquarium’s visitors as if to say “See what I can do?” The music box-style background music is the icing on this adorable cake, and surely the scene had everyone who saw it in-person smiling serenely for the rest of the day.

▼ Or at least until they walked past the souvenir shop and saw Katsurahama Aquarium’s terrifying official mascot character.

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