While visiting the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, DC, digital strategist and political activist John Aravosis engaged an active game of virtual fetch with a playful sea lion from behind the plexiglass of the aquarium. Aravosis stated that he got the idea when watching the seal following the finger of another visitor until the very clever pinniped spotted a stick on the ground and indicated that there was a new game to be played.
We first saw the sea lion yesterday when one of the zoo visitors was running his finger along the plexiglass, and the sea lion was following it and then doing flips when the man swirled his finger. …But after a while, the sea lion stopped following our fingers, and instead kept, seemingly, pointing at a stick on the ground on our side of the plexiglass. …I don’t know what possessed us, but somehow someone got the idea to throw the stick, and what do you know, the sea lion chased it and then did a somersault every time he got to the stick. (Also amazing, it was really dark in there by closing time, and the seal still found the stick every time.) So, apparently, the sea lion wanted to play fetch and, amazingly, somehow communicated that to us.
