Different types of seals:

Weddell seal

Their fat protects seals efficiently from the cold, both at sea and outside. They can weight up to 600kg, a good portion of which is fat. As an additional protection against the cold the have a thin layer of very dense fur. The male is bigger than the female, up to 3m long, but is not seen too often on the ice. They are very good divers, able to dive down to 600m and hold their breath for an hour. Their only predator is the killer whale, sometimes seen off the shores of Antarctica. During those dives they catch and eat mainly fish, squids, octopuses, krill, crabs and shrimp.

When seals are young, they like to be scratched under the 'arms'. Baby seals have never been hunted in Antarctica and big ones have not been hunted for about a century (whalers used to catch them when they couldn't find enough whales). From the dark color of baby seals, it's easy to tell they don't have land predators: baby seals from the arctic are white to try to hide from the sight of polar bears...

If the ice is not too thick, Weddell seals can drill a hole in it by opening their mouth wide and turning it repeatedly against the ice. They normally never venture inland, but mummified remains of seals have been found in the dry valleys, hundreds of km away from the sea.

Crabeater Seal

Although very abundant around Antarctica, they are not very common around DdU and I saw only a couple of them. The only thing I know about them is that they don't particularly eat crab but krill which they filter out of the water with their uniquely shaped teeth. They may reach up to 2.5m and weigh more than 200kg. They often have scars from leopard or killer whales attacks.

Leopard Seal

When they catch one, they play with it just like a cat with a mouse. You wouldn't want one to mistake you for a penguin (it's happened a few times to people standing on the shore !). They come to DdU mainly when the chicks go to the sea for the first time, still learning to swim. Penguins are extremely tough animals, though, I've seen several that survived such attacks with no feet or tails that successfully manage to raise chicks every year.

Their name comes from their spotted fur and also from their huge mouth and powerful jaws. Females are larger than males and may reach 4m and weight up to 450 kg. They are solitary predators and eat just about everything, from krill to other seals but particularly appreciate Adelie penguins. They often attack penguins that are walking on broken floating ice by bursting through the ice; you can tell penguins are nervous when walking on broken ice by the speed they go ! And they don't stand near the shore. It's also something that has cause more than a few scares in my colleagues when they saw a leopard seal burst out of the water at their feet, probably thinking they were some kind of fat penguin.

source:

http://www.gdargaud.net/Antarctica/Animals.html

Seals information

Seals are aquatic mammals which belong to the family 'Pinnipedia' which means ‘winged-feet’ and refers to their flippers, which are specially adapted for life in the sea. There are 33 species of seal world-wide, two of which live around the British coastlines.

The Common seal (also known as the Harbour Seal) and the Grey Seal are the two species found in the UK.

The British population of the Grey Seal is two thirds of the world's population. Seals can be found off the Scottish Isles, around the coast in Cornwall and the Scilly Isles and also off the Pembrokeshire coastline in South Wales.

Seals also thrive around the Farne Islands and off the west and and north coasts of Ireland. If you have ever visited one of the above places in the UK you might have seen them, like I had the pleasure in Cornwall observing them closely flapping around curiously on the beach or playing in the shallow waters.

Scotland in particular, is an important breeding area for Grey Seals.

You can tell a Grey seal from a Common seal by their size. Grey seals are larger than Common seals and males tend to have a more uniformed colour.

Seals are very timid creatures, but like all wild animals, will nip if they feel threatened, so it is wise to approach them gently, calmly and carefully.

Other Seal species, including the Grey and Common Seals, live all over the world from the frozen wastes of the polar regions, to the tropical beaches in Hawaii and almost everywhere in between.

Like all mammals, seals are warm-blooded and suckle their young just like humans Millions of years ago, the ancestors of seals moved from the land back into the sea and evolved special characteristics to adapt to their environment. Seals appear very clumsy on land, but beneath the waves, they swim with elegance. Their tornado shaped bodies allow them to glide gracefully through the water. Seals are skilled hunters of fish and other marine prey.

Seals have flippers instead of hands and feet and they can dive for up to an hour to depths of more than 200 metres and even down to 500 metres without surfacing for breath.

Seals are different from their aquatic cousins, the Fur Seal and Sea lions in a number of ways. The most prominent difference being Fur Seals and Sea lions can walk about on all fours, seals can only wriggle on their stomachs. Fur seals and Sea lions also have ears, where as ears on a seal are so small that they can only be seen when they are wet.

The largest member of the Pinniped family is the Elephant Seal, the males of this species can grow to be 13-16 feet long. The smallest member is the Baikal Seal which grows to be just 3 - 4 feet long.

Male seals are called 'Bulls'.

Female seals are called 'Cows'.

Baby seals are called 'Pups'.

Life Span of a Seal

If a seal survives the dangers of being a pup, seals are generally long-lived animals. Both the Grey and Common seal have been known to live more than 30 years. One female Grey seal around the Shetland Isles in Scotland was known to be 46 years old. However, many seals do die at sea through pollution, parasitic diseases and being caught up in fishing nets.

source: http://www.animalcorner.co.uk/marine/seals/seal_about.html

First Entry

This blog is made to aware people of the seals that's busy dying because of hunting. I will be posting updates on this cause and some information. We as humans need to take actions and aware others around us of this terrible act of cruelty. At the end seals will become extinct and we will only have ourselves to blame. Please spread the word about this blog and make others aware.