BOSTON (AP) — It looks like pure play: a harbor seal gleefully chasing a rubber duck. But for Reggae at the New England Aquarium in Boston, the toy is part of a training routine meant to keep him learning.
When the 33-year-old Atlantic harbor seal plays fetch with the rubber duck in his habitat built to mimic the region’s rocky shore, he’s practicing memory, problem-solving and focus — skills trainers say are essential to keeping animals in human care mentally and physically engaged.
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Reggae, a 33-year-old Atlantic Harbor seal, reaches his flipper out to a rubber duck during a training session at the New England Aquarium, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Reggae, a 33-year-old Atlantic Harbor seal, clutches a rubber duck during a training session at the New England Aquarium, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Reggae, a 33-year-old Atlantic Harbor seal, taps his nose to a rubber duck during a training session with Liz Wait at the New England Aquarium, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Reggae, a 33-year-old Atlantic Harbor seal, taps his nose to a rubber duck during a training session with Liz Wait at the New England Aquarium, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Reggae, a 33-year-old Atlantic Harbor seal, rests his head on a rubber duck during a training session with Liz Wait at the New England Aquarium, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
The routine recently drew attention on social media after the aquarium posted video of Reggae tightly hugging the duck while floating on his belly. In another moment, he sits on a rock with the duck tucked under his flipper, appearing to pat its head.
Rebekah Miller, the aquarium’s manager of the pinniped area overseeing the Atlantic harbor seals and California sea lions, said enrichment is central to the seals’ daily lives.
“He can use his great vision to look around the habitat, find these new items, and he can also use his other senses to kind of explore,” she said. “It’s a great way to challenge our animals. We want to create challenges for them and really allow them to use those problem-solving skills that they have.”
The sessions are designed not just to stimulate the seals cognitively but to strengthen relationships with trainers, with even physical play — manipulating objects with their front flippers or moving a toy through the water — becoming part of that challenge.
On a recent morning, trainer Liz Wait stood at the edge of the exhibit with a silver bucket of fish clipped to her waist, tossing small rewards as Reggae followed cues.
“Target!” she called, pointing to one duck. Reggae swam over and nudged it with his nose. She repeated the cue with another duck.
“Hold it!” she said, placing a rubber duck on his white belly. Reggae lifted his flippers to wrap them around it.
“Are you having fun with your ducks?” she asked as he climbed onto a rock, resting his chin atop one of the toys.
“You want to say, ‘Bye, everybody?’” Wait asked, waving her hand. Reggae hoisted his right flipper in response and returned a salute from his trainer. “Good, Bubba."
Miller said Reggae appears to be unfazed by all the attention.
“We describe his personality as very mellow. He’s a very easygoing guy, he goes with the flow and he loves attention from people,” she said.
One family waved as Reggae swam toward the glass to retrieve a duck that Wait tossed near them.
“You never expect a seal to hug a rubber ducky,” said 13-year-old Tom Smith of Boston, who was visiting with his mother and younger brother during school vacation week.
The aquarium’s Atlantic harbor seals are among its most recognizable residents, living in a 42,000-gallon outdoor exhibit on the front plaza. The current seals were born at the aquarium to parents that were themselves longtime residents.
Many trace their lineage to Hoover, a harbor seal born in 1971 who was raised by a Maine fisherman after he lost his mother. When it became too expensive for the fisherman's family to feed him, Hoover was brought to the aquarium, where he later gained national attention for mimicking phrases such as “hello there” and “get out of here” in a gruff New England accent.
Today, seals at the aquarium often live beyond the roughly 25-year lifespan typical in the wild. Several have surpassed 30 and even 40 years, longevity the institution attributes to veterinary care, structured training and daily enrichment.
Reggae, a 33-year-old Atlantic Harbor seal, reaches his flipper out to a rubber duck during a training session at the New England Aquarium, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Reggae, a 33-year-old Atlantic Harbor seal, clutches a rubber duck during a training session at the New England Aquarium, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Reggae, a 33-year-old Atlantic Harbor seal, taps his nose to a rubber duck during a training session with Liz Wait at the New England Aquarium, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Reggae, a 33-year-old Atlantic Harbor seal, taps his nose to a rubber duck during a training session with Liz Wait at the New England Aquarium, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Reggae, a 33-year-old Atlantic Harbor seal, rests his head on a rubber duck during a training session with Liz Wait at the New England Aquarium, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is keeping calm Friday after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, which had triggered panic in financial markets when announced last year, and stocks are ticking higher.
The S&P 500 rose 0.6%. It had been flipping between small gains and losses before the court's ruling, following discouraging reports showing slowing growth for the U.S. economy and faster inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 156 points, or 0.3%, as of 2:30 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% higher.
Many on Wall Street were likely expecting such a ruling from the Supreme Court, according to Brian Jacobsen, chief economic strategist at Annex Wealth Management. That likely led to the relatively muted reactions across financial markets, and trading remained tentative as investors tried to suss out the long-term effects.
Contributing to the cautious trading was the fact that tariffs aren't going away, even with the Supreme Court's ruling. Trump in the afternoon said he would use other avenues to place tariffs on other countries after calling the court's decision terrible.
“Just so you understand, we have tariffs, we just have them in a different way,” Trump told reporters in an afternoon briefing. He said he would sign an executive order to impose a 10% global tariff under a law that could limit it to 150 days. The president also said he is exploring other tariffs through other avenues, ones that would require an investigation through the Commerce Department.
“During that period of about five months, we are doing the various investigations necessary to put fair tariffs – or tariffs, period – on other countries,” Trump said.
Earlier in his comments, Trump said that the Supreme Court's ruling had other countries “dancing in the streets, but they won’t be dancing for long.”
Among the tentative moves across markets, Treasury yields edged a bit higher in the bond market. If investors thought the tariff ruling would improve inflation significantly, it could have sent yields lower. On the other hand, if investors were worried about the U.S. government's debt rising faster in the future because of the loss of revenue from tariffs, long-term yields could have jumped. For now, at least, yields broadly held relatively steady.
The stock price of Ralph Lauren, meanwhile, rushed from an early loss to a gain of 3.3% after investors learned of the Supreme Court's ruling. But it quickly flipped back to a loss before returning to a more modest rise of 1.3%. During April last year, the stock had dropped nearly 23% in four days after Trump announced his tariffs because of worries about how they would hurt its profits.
In other markets, gold’s price slumped briefly after the ruling and then erased the loss. Stock indexes in Europe added some to their gains from earlier in the day, while the U.S. dollar's value edged down against the euro and other currencies.
Heading into the day, the main event for markets had seemed to be discouraging reports showing slowing U.S. economic growth and accelerating inflation. They also found a relatively muted response from investors.
While the reports underscore the tricky situation the Federal Reserve faces as it sets interest rates, they did not change traders’ expectations much for what the Fed will ultimately do. Traders are still mostly betting that the Fed will lower rates at least twice this year, according to data from CME Group. Some shifted bets for the timing of when the cuts could begin to slightly later in the summer.
Lower interest rates would give the economy a boost, but they also risk worsening inflation. Fed officials said at their last meeting that they want to see inflation fall further before they would support cutting rates further.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury remained at 4.08%, where it was late Thursday. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed action, inched up to 3.48% from 3.47%.
On Wall Street, Akamai Technologies dropped 12.8% for one of the market's sharpest losses. The cybersecurity and cloud computing company reported stronger results for the end of 2025 than analysts expected, but it gave a profit forecast for the upcoming year that fell short of estimates.
Akamai plans to spend a bigger percentage of its revenue this upcoming year on equipment and other investments. It’s the latest potential indicator of how shortages of computer memory created by the AI boom is affecting customers throughout the economy.
On the winning side of the market was Comfort Systems, which rose 3.7% after the provider of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and electrical services reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Brian Lane said his company is seeing “unprecedented demand.”
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in Europe following a more mixed finish in Asia.
The Hang Seng fell 1.1% after Hong Kong’s market reopened following Lunar New Year holidays, but South Korea’s Kospi jumped 2.3% to a record, led by major defense contractors like Hanwha Aerospace. The company is one of many benefiting from a ramp up in military spending in many countries.
AP Writers Matt Ott, Elaine Kurtenbach and Seung Min Kim contributed.
Specialist Thomas McArdle works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Specialist Patrick King, left, and trader Robert Charmak work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Options trader Anthony Spina works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Options trader Anthony Spina works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Currency traders pass by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
