Diver's Been Playing With Wild Seals For 20 Years | The Dodo Wild Hearts 

Date: "So... any hobbies?" Diver: "I like holding hands... with seals."

“They’re very gentle” Seal: *nibble nibble*

Human: hey look, they're back! Such amazing creatures. Seals: hey look, they're back! Such amazing creatures.

I live in a city on the west coast of Canada. When I'm by the water, I often see seals just watching humans, popping up and looking at us, then diving under, then popping up again still facing us. They seem very playful, like they're playing peekaboo.

Diver: "These aren't pets" Seals: "This is a pet"

"Man plays with seals for 20years" A life well lived

Seals are just the puppies of the sea

Seals: "Poor yooman is tangled in plastic trash ,like my aunt Celia was, let's help him."

"This human appears to be tangled in equipment, let me just free you up a bit."

It's great that he has the seals of approval.

Ben has invested probably thousands of hours with these grey seals. Trust isn't given; it's earned. Patience, repetition, familiarity. He's got a wonderful relationship with his underwater companions. In some ways, the magic of one mammal touching another mammal holds a deeper meaning than just touching. Watching the seal closing its eyes while being caressed transcends the bond between one mammal and another............just like people.

Such a sweet sea puppy 🐶

They're very adorable. They're puppies living in the water.

Ah yes, seals. The wet doggos

The hugging scene in last was so adorable.😭😭😭

Nature’s underwater “dogs”! I love this! They’re like puppies with fins! 🥰

Human: Reaches out hand Seal: “Ahh a man of civility.” *squeezes hand*

why isn’t anybody talking about how the seals hold hands with him 🥺🥺

The hug at the end was darling. 😍

The first seal was like “No, no you don’t need to breathe”

They are so gentle and intelligent and curious.

First time I encountered a seal close up, it was absolutely obvious that they're dogs with flippers. Same eyes, same bark, same affinity for humans etc.

Seal: *Squeezes human hands* Human: *Squeezes back* Seal: Understandable let us be friends

I would love to have a connection with a wild animal

The man's gone wild. He's not going back. He's off with the kelpies, as they say in Scotland. Fair play to him!

Nice to see a seal family adopting this stray human.

This man is living an amazing life. He has a stable job as a doctor and gets to dive with seals often 🥺

The seals thought those equipments are sea trash that got stuck on him and they're just trying to help

This video was so special and heartwarming to see. It’s incredible how the wild seals respond to a human being. Thank you for sharing.

Seals are so adorable!!!

it’s so cute how they bend their little fins like hands lmao

God: "the sea is so depressing. What can I add to make it nice?" Angel: "Dogs with flippers"

What a beautiful blessing!!"It's a privilege ".So true🥰

It's like the guy who saw a octopus and went back to see her everyday and she had babies and died but not until she showed a lot about her life or her species it was amazing I think it's called my octopus teacher.

Seals are Literally water puppies 😍

The hand holding from a seal....oh my Lord if that happened to me my heart wouldn't be able to take the cuteness overload

Seal: "Here, hooman, let me relieve you of this heavy and uncomfortable equipment." Man: "But I need that to breathe!"

I love how gentle they are with him

Him: They don't try to kill me, they know what's equipment Seal: *rips away oxygen source*

Seal scientists: Trying to find edible part of hooman for 20 years

They are very touchy, clingy, affectionate, playful ❤️

This is heartwarming! A human who doesn’t exploit the wildlife! I love this relationship!

Seal: "Come on, guys. I show you this crazy alien that always comes by and just wants to be petted."

Being raised on the edge of the Pacific, it is hard to explain what it feels like to my wife when I am under the water. She was raised in the City and never learned to swim. When I was seeing this I got a strong longing for one of things I love most in life, just being under the ocean.

Absolutely amazing! I am 50 years old and I’ve been diving since I was 17 and this is one of the most beautiful things I’ve have ever seen in scuba diving..

They are the dogs of the sea. Absolutely beautiful

You know they thinks he’s one of them. With his bald head, and big dark round eyes. They’re all like “huh, you look a bit odd but, worry not, we accept you, fellow waterpup!“

It’s hard to see other people living your dream😂

Puppers will always be mans bestfriends, even ones that lives underwater lol

They act just like the dogs in the neighborhood where I live. The dogs walk around the streets and play with each other. When I walk down the street to go to the shops, they'll come up to me to get petted, sometimes they'll jump on my back, bite at my pant legs, or "bite" my arms. They're just playing with me the same way they play with each other. Those seals are acting just like that, they even have those big dark eyes like the dogs do.

"These are wild animals" Yet that looks like you're surrounded by puppies that can hug you

I've had the pleasure of experiencing this exact same type of interaction with California sea lions in January off the west coast of British Columbia, Hornby Island. During our boat dive, one of them had my forearm in its mouth for about 4 seconds then released me as gentle as someone that had been holding your hand. Another opened its mouth and gently clasped my mask to sorta 'feel it'. I was literally staring down it's throat for about 5 seconds. They never caused me to feel uncomfortable. 🦭

“They know what equipment to play with” *Takes off oxygen tube* 1:34

When I was in the galapagos, I went swimming near a group of sea lions (cuz they're everywhere) and a smaller one spotted me immediately and jumped into the water and started swimming circled around me for fun. I spent a good 15 minutes letting myself sink underwater just so the sea lion could keep playing (and yes it was play, I checked)

This is just amazing. The fact they basically hold his hand. Wow, magical ❤️❤️❤️

This is one of the cutest thing ever

His sea puppy is so adorable and affectionate... When is he gonna learn to fetch?

Protect animals. Like they are your baby. Fight for them!

They really seem to be the dogs of the sea, for lack of a better term. They're really pretty incredible creatures.

Oh my, when he was giving the seal a hug at the end, it like to take my breath away. Sublime, truly. The seals have such large, trusting and expressive eyes. More so than even humans...

2:56 what about that huggg?!

This gives me tears of joy... They are the dogs of the sea, so cute 😊

That has to be an amazing experience. What a blessing. The positive effect of this on this man is priceless.

They give him a little flipper shake and a seal kiss....too cute😀

This man has spent 20 years scuba diving so the seals have most probably been habituated to him and his crew's presence. You gotta earn wild animals' trust for sure.

Doggies of the sea. Sweet creatures.

I swim and play with them in S.F. Bay, near San Quentin Beach. I have the same feeling- how magical and blessed I feel when it touches my leg and wants to play when I am swimming. Thank you for making this video and saying what you have- it is bonding and inspiring!

Seals are so adorable, he's truly the seal whisperer

2:50 That's a good Nose-Boop right there

Must be a great feeling to have the trust of a wild animal

i think this man is already richer than most modern days billionaires

He's living the dream.

"That moment of peace, if I could bottle it and sell it, I would be incredibly rich." 💕💕

That is amazing. Must be spectacular to interact with those seals. Beyond words, I am sure.

I just came back to watch this again and it so makes me smile... what a wonderful privilege this man has....

Seals have the absolute sweetest faces 😊

Seals on the beach: R O U N D and T H I C C cute somethings you are not allowed to touch Seals underwater: Elegant sea dogs you can pet without a problem

How wondrous and beautiful.♥️🦭

truly a sea doggo

When i watch DoDo videos, i tend to find myself consistently saying ‘I want me one of those!’

I was sold at the nose boop. You know you are in love when you nose boop

You are lucky to have such wonderful friends.

He is amazing, I’m so glad he shared his story with us.

In my language, seal is literally means sea dog.

Diver: *Enters water* Seals: "Oh goody! Our favourite playmate is back!"

they're so cute Plsss

This is so, so beautiful. Thank you for sharing those special moments.

Thank you for curing my depression

They were actually going for his watch and bracelet while distracting him.

Seals are the friendliest .

Great man with a lot of empathy.

Yesterday I went swimming, and some young seals curiously came up to me, it was a moment I will treasure forever. I now want to save seals in anyway I can

Fun Fact: Seals are called "Seehund" in German. It literally means "sea dog". Water doggos❤️

Omg that wpuld be such good trauma therapy. Ud automatically remember that lifes worth living. INSTANTLY. Just watching this makes me cry a little. Some of us really struggle and we see things like this. And just knowing the world has such blessings that ate that amazing inspires us

I swear that’s the best feeling in the world! It made me understand why surfers in Cali like sitting out by the kelp Forest. They are so friendly

This video confirms that seals are really just mermaid dogs 😂😂😂

Whenever I see a Seal I feel like I am watching the love child of a Dog and a Mermaid.

There was such a gentle exchange between the two.

Pretty incredible and brave considering I once had a monk seal come up alongside my kayak. It had a seabird in its jaws thankfully. My dog was growling and I feared she would try to jump in after it. I realized this cute doe-eyed seal I'd seen earlier in the day could take out my pittie in a nano second. They are very much wild animals but his experience is really incredible. Tourists in Hawaii get themselves into trouble with seals because they seem so adorable and friendly. They try to go after them to pet them (even tho protected and touching them is illegal) and get nasty bites whereas he lets them iniate the contact. A wonderful seal rescue site on RU-vid is ocean conservation out of Namibia where they daily untangle seals from fishing line mostly and other debris that the seals try to play with and ends up cutting into them. It's such a worthy effort and really interesting to watch. They go to lengths to protect themselves since they are having to capture and have forceful but gentle as possible contact with them.

I guess you could say their friendship is sealed. Imma leave. ._.