He?s reached the ripe old age of 105 in human years.

And at 35 he could be the oldest male seal of his species in captivity anywhere in the world.

So you could forgive Bermuda zoo veteran Archie for feeling a little under the weather after undergoing pioneering surgery.

But keepers say the sprightly seal ? who had a front flipper amputated earlier this summer due to an infection ? is feeling flippin? fantastic.

Archie has made great progress, they say, and has no problems swimming or getting out of his pool to soak up the sunshine.

Amazingly, mating season still holds a big appeal for amorous Archie.

Experts feared he might have been hampered after he went under the knife. Yet despite being well in his twilight years, Archie is still up to this old tricks.

Acting Bermuda Museum and Zoo curator Patrick Talbot said: ?He?s not changed in the slightest. He?s still trying to mate, even though he needs two flippers to hold on.?

However his best moves will be wasted.

?We use birth control here so he can only go through the motions,? explained Mr. Talbot. ?But where there?s a will, there?s a way.?

Most male seals live to around 25. But Archie has glided on for another decade, and Mr. Talbot said he had yet to hear of a male seal in captivity who is older.

?He?s a real icon,? he added. ?Everyone who?s been here knows about Archie.?

Since arriving in Bermuda from Canada in 1973 at the tender age of two, Archie has become a firm fixture and a family favourite at the Flatts animal haven.

So when one of his claw-like nails broke and an infection was subsequently discovered in his right flipper, the community rallied round to help.

Some of the drugs used during the operation came from King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, while the Regiment donated a stretcher. Scores of volunteers also streamed forward to help keep an eye on the 200 pound patient as he started out on the road to recovery.

?Archie is an icon and so there were a lot of people who very willing to give up their time to help,? said Dr. Ian Walker, acting principal curator at the zoo.

Round the clock watches and cool towels ensured Archie was kept cool ? his body?s radiator, covered by a blubber layer, doesn?t work properly in surgery ? and his pool had to be kept crystal clear to avoid life-threatening infections.

Keepers told the operation was almost certainly the first of its kind carried out on an Atlantic harbour seal like Archie.

Giving seals anaesthetics is a risky business because they can go into cardiac arrest. And the fact that no information was available from other zoos about what drugs were used in amputations of this kind ? twinned with the problems associated with Archie?s impressive age ? hardly reduced the chances of setbacks.

The operation came after months of treatment during which time staff realised that surgery was his best bet for survival.

Dr. Walker said that dosages used to sedate Archie during earlier X-rays on his flipper acted as a guideline, but guesswork also played a role.

?We had no problems the first two times we sedated him and that gave us more confidence for the operation itself,? he recalled.

Surgery was performed by Dr. Nick Glynn of, Endsmeet Animal Hospital, Devonshire. And the two-hour operation was carried out at the bottom of Archie?s pool, which was drained of water. Four female seal pals who he normally lives with ? Charlotte, Calico, Arial, and Pebbles ? were temporarily moved into the pool next door.

Zoo staff said the operation was the riskiest ever undertaken at the site ? but the risk of not operating was even greater. Now the anaesthetic procedure used for Archie has been sent to zoos across America, in case they ever need to perform a similar operation.

Despite the dangers, Dr. Walker said the surgery was a success.

?Archie was a really easy patient,? he remembers. ?He snored throughout.?

Five days later, the seal was out of his back-up tank and back in his home pool.

But how is Archie now managing to swim?

?There?s no change in his swimming pattern,? said Dr. Walker. ?He just accommodates it and gets on with it. There?s no problem for him.?

That was certainly the case when dropped in to visit the surgery success story earlier this week. He was happily gliding around his pool so effortlessly, you had to look very hard to see his was missing a flipper.

At the moment, staff say it?s a case of ?so far so good? for ageing Archie. Added Dr. Walker: ?He?s an old seal and I do not know how many years he has left.

?But he?s certainly acting like a young seal at the moment. He?s quite happy and is as good as new, for his age.?

The operation may have got the seal of approval from Archie, but zoo staff say the procedure would have been a lot easier if they had an on-site hospital with their own equipment to hand in an air conditioned room.

An $8 million campaign for one to be built is ongoing, and has so far raised an impressive $6.8 million.

Donations are still being accepted. Call 293-2727 if you want to help.