Seal Facts by Logiee22 (story books to read txt) 📕

they get tangled up in. Global warming continues to be a problem for them too. As the layers of ice melt, their natural environment is being taken away from them.


Harbor Seal


The Harbor Seal is fairly small when it is compared to the many other species of seals out there. They vary significantly in color and can be dark brown, tan, or various shades of gray. The nostrils on them are a V shape which is a characteristic you won’t find with any other species of seal out there.

The males and females are very comparable in size and look so it can be hard to distinguish them. They can be up to six feet long and almost 300 pounds in weight. Each Harbor Seal has a distinct pattern of spots on its body as well. No two of them are the same.

Distribution

This species of seal loves the temperature waters. You will find them residing along the Arctic coastlines. They tend to be well spread out though because they are also in the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and the Baltic Sea. A small number of then has also been reported at the North Seas too.

They also like to spend their time on the rocks because it offers them a place to bask in the sun. It is also believed it helps them to stay out of the reach of various types of predators. The California coasts seem to be gaining more and more Harbor Seals than in the past. Another favorite place for them in the USA is the harbors of New York.

Diet /Feeding

The diet for the Harbor Seal mainly consists of small fish. Other food items the are commonly known to consume include Walleye, Cod, Herring, Salmon, Octopus, and Squid. Generally they will consume what happens to be the most plentiful in the area where reside.

Reproduction

The battle among males for the right to mate with the females is quite interesting. It will take place in the water and it can last for many hours. The females are only going to mate with the winners of such fights. There tends to be more females with the Harbor seals due to the brutal battles among the males. As a result these males that do win end up being able to successfully mate with a large number of the females.

The females will mate again soon after having their pup. However, they won’t immediately begin the process of a new pup growing. Instead what is called delayed implantation occurs so it is about 12 weeks before the embryo will attach itself to the uterus. Then it is about 8 ½ months until they pup is born.

The pups are very advanced when they are born, with a natural instinct to swim. They are one of the few species of seals where the pups go into the water just a couple of hours after they are born. Even though they are swimming, they don’t search for food at this time. Instead they get nutrition from the milk their mother offers for the first few months of life.

Conservation

Since it is illegal to hunt for the Harbor Seal they are well protected in their natural habitat. There are some exceptions in Canada, Norway, and the United Kingdom though. In these locations some of them can be killed to control numbers if there is a threat to the fisheries that operate in those areas.

Approximately 500,000 of them are out there. Females tend to live longer than the males at a span of 30 to 35 years. The males live to be about 20 to 25 years. It seems that the numbers of them in locations such as Alaska have continued to drop but over all they are increasing.


GRAY SEAL FACTS


The Gray Seal is one that many people have seen in pictures. It is found along the North Atlantic Ocean on both sides of it. This is a medium sized seal when it is full grown. The males are almost twice as large as the females. They can be up to 10 feet long. And weigh up to 900 pounds.

There are some spots along the body but they tend to fade as they get older. They also have nostrils that are spread very far apart on their face. They can range in color from a medium brown to a very dark gray.

Distribution

You will find the Gray Seal has many locations out there that it calls home. They tend to prefer places where there aren’t very many people. They feed in cold current waters so that is a necessity. When they aren’t in the water they enjoy being on the sand and rocky terrain. Others can be found living in colder regions where they climb out of the water to relax on sheets of ice.

Diet /Feeding

The Gray Seal feeds on a variety of different types of fish that live in the water. They are great divers so if they can’t find enough food at the surface they will have no trouble going on a search for it. They will also consume herring and eels if they come across them in the water. Some of the larger ones have even been known to consume octopus and lobster.

They tend to consume around 10 pounds of food per day when they feed as adults. They don’t feed daily though so that amount could be every other day or every third day. During the mating season they can fast for weeks at a time by living on the blubber that they have built up.

Reproduction

The time of year when the pups are born depends on where they live. The females dig areas and find out of the way locations to prepare for the birth of their pup. The mothers feed them milk that is close to ½ fat. This allows them to grow rapidly as well as to build up their own layers of blubber very early on. They can’t enter the water for about a month when they get the waterproof fur. Until then they depend on their mother’s for the food supply they need. Weaning takes place at about 3 weeks of age.

It isn’t uncommon for the females to breed again immediately after they have weaned their pup. This is one reason why the females don’t seem to live as long as the males. It certainly takes a toll on their bodies to carry a pup for 10 months, nurse, and then to start all over with out any recovery period.

Many of the males are at least 10 years of age before they are able to successfully mate. That is due to the fierce competition among them. Only the strongest of the males are able to breed with the females.

Conservation

It appears that the number of Gray Seals out there is slowing increasing. This is due to the awareness and education programs that various conservation organizations have presented. However, they are still listed as an endangered species. They are presently protected in the USA under the Marine Protection Act in the UK under the Conservation of Seals ACT of 1970.

The Gray Seal does very well in captivity, and can live up to 40 years there. They are only able to successfully live in the wild for up to 30 years. One of their biggest threats are the huge nets out there in the water for fishermen to make a living.


Northern Elephant Seal


The Northern Elephant Seal is smaller than those from the Southern part of the world. They are very large and the males have what is similar to an elephant’s trunk on their face yet it is very short. The males are very large with a weight of up to 5,000 pounds. They can also reach up to 14 feet in length. The females are much smaller when it comes to weight with only about 1,400 pounds. They are shorter too at only 11 feet. These seals range in color from light gray to dark black.

Distribution

You will find that the Northern Elephant Seal has quite a geographical range that they cover. Some of them live where it is cold including Alaska while others prefer the warmer climate around Baja California. They are known to migrate from one area to the next too.

Diet /Feeding

When you look at the eyes of a Northern Elephant Seal, you will notice that they are quite large. They are also wide and very dark which works to their advantage when it comes time to find their prey. There are tons of different food sources in the water for these very large seals. They include squid, fish, octopus, and even small sharks.

They love to hunt for their prey at night and they can go to the depths of the oceans in order to find what they are looking for. They tend to eat much more as summer approaches to build up their fat reserves. As summer moves in they will molt so they have to stay on land for up to a month. During that period of time they will live off the fat on their bodies.

Reproduction

You will hear extremely deep and loud roaring sounds coming from the males when it is time to mate. The males are extremely competitive when it is time for mating. One male can earn the right to mate with as many as 50 females in the group. The males head off first to the mating grounds where they will battle each other before the females start to arrive.

Those males that are the most powerful will have a certain region that they cover. It is not known what makes some females stop in these areas of a bull while others move on to another location to find a different male that they are interested in. Research also shows that the majority of the pups are from the same males. More than half off all the males in a given group will never mate.

It takes 11 months from conception until the pups are born. Females occasionally have twins but if so one will be left to die. They nurse their one pup four the first month of life before they go in search of food for themselves. The pups will remain on the shore for two weeks living off of fat reserves. Then they will move into the water to hunt on their own.

Conservation

At one time there were less than 1,000 Northern Elephant Seals out there. That was in the 1970’s but now there are almost 100,000 of them. This increase shows that such conservation efforts really can work. There continue to be environmental problems though including global warming that threaten the Northern Elephant Seal.

Human interaction

The number of Northern Elephant Seals is very low due to being hunted by humans. Another common problem with them is that they are highly susceptible to disease and viruses. This tends to occur more often in captivity than in the wild though and it is believed to be due to conditions presented by human interactions.


Southern Elephant Seal


The Southern Elephant Seal is the largest of all seals in