winterwarcrimes

In a respectable 3rd place, Niko from Toba Aquarium still manages to make it high up with 10.3% of the votes! He's slipped from complete dominance over the polls, but he's still incredibly popular, and that's nothing to sneeze at! Maybe he'll bounce back on his sixth birthday next year? ;)

In second place with 12.8% of the votes, the wild and silly adventures of Kroshik captivated everyone's attention as his keepers try again to release him back into the wild. His journey in his semi-wild enclosure and fighting back against the former bully little brother have made him rocket to 2nd place this year. Good job fighting for your right to party, Kroshik!

And for first place, in an amazing upset! Newcomer Tsuki won a full 21.2% of total votes! Not bad for someone who isn't even a full year old yet! Hopefully she'll continue to be adored for years to come!

And for the category votes:

Best Girl goes to Tsuki's mother and the perpetually grumpy Yo-chan!

She got a stunning 44% of total votes!

As for Best Boy? Niko scraped by a narrow win with 1 more vote than his rival Kroshik! He might not be seal of the year, but he's the bestest boy in all the land.

Tsuki and Agu double up the prizes for Tokkari Center by winning Best Newcomer and Best Super Senior respectively! It was no contest, as they both dominated their respective categories, Tsuki winning 84% of the vote and Agu winning 62%!

In the silliest seal vote, Ponsuke took the prize with 17.1% of the vote, proving being silly never dies!

In the Gone But Not Forgotten, we honor seals who've passed on to Seal Heaven by giving them their own category. And the ever adorable and playful Mizore got 37% of the vote. We love you and miss you!

And winning best historical seal-ebrity, The Egg Seal stays iconic! AHHH! Egg! Hope you've gotten the hang of swimming by now, buddy!

And our final catagory is a general favorite species! We divided this one into True Seals and Not-True Seals...

Everyone's favorite True Seal Species is the Lake Baikal seal with 23% of the vote!

This is the only exclusively fresh water seal in the world, living in Lake Baikal in Russia, the world's deepest lake. They also have huge eyes in order see better in the dark depths of the lake they live in.

As for the other pinnipeds, your most favorite species is overwhelming the Walrus with 37% of total votes!

Did you know that walruses are the last remaining pinniped to use suction to feed? They're also really cute... just don't try to pet them!

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And that's all for this year's seal of the year! Thank you so much to everyone who voted and shared.