Pinniped

1.

2.

3.

pinniped - ластоногие
[ˈpɪnɪped]
ringed seal – кольчатая
[rɪŋd siːl]
нерпа
Baikal seal Байкальская нерпа
[baɪˈkɑːl siːl]

4.

Caspian seal -
[ˈkæspɪən siːl]
Каспийский тюлень
spotted seal -
[ˈspɒtɪd siːl]
пятнистый тюлень
harbor seal –
обыкновенный тюлень
[ˈhɑːbə siːl]

5.

grey seal - серый
[greɪ siːl]
тюлень
ribbon seal –
[ˈrɪbən siːl]
полосатый тюлень
harp seal гренландский тюлень
[hɑːp siːl]

6.

hooded seal - хохлач
[ˈhʊdɪd siːl]
bearded seal – усатый
[ˈbɪədɪd siːl]
тюлень
Weddell seal – тюлень
Уэдделла
[ˈwenzdeɪl siːl]

7.

leopard seal - морской
[ˈlepəd siːl]
леопард
crabeater seal –
[ˈkræbɪtər siːl]
тюлень-крабоед
elephant seal - морской
слон
[ˈelɪfənt siːl]

8.

monk seal – тюлень-
[mʌŋk siːl]
монах
fur seal – морской
[fɜː siːl]
котик
sea lion - морской лев
[siː ˈlaɪən]

9.

walrus – морж
[ˈwɔːlrəs]

10.

Pinniped

11.

Pinnipeds, commonly known as seals, are a widely distributed and diverse clade of
carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic marine mammals. They comprise the extant
families Odobenidae (whose only living member is the walrus), Otariidae (the eared
seals: sea lions and fur seals), and Phocidae (the earless seals, or true seals). There are
33 extant species of pinnipeds, and more than 50 extinct species have been described
from fossils. While seals were historically thought to have descended from two
ancestral lines, molecular evidence supports them as a monophyletic lineage
(descended from one ancestral line). Pinnipeds belong to the order Carnivora; their
closest living relatives are bears and the superfamily of musteloids (weasels,
raccoons, skunks, and red pandas), having diverged about 50 million years ago.
Seals range in size from the 1 m and 45 kg Baikal seal to the 5 m and 3,200 kg
southern elephant seal male, which is also the largest member of the order Carnivora.
Several species exhibit sexual dimorphism. They have streamlined bodies and four
limbs that are modified into flippers. Though not as fast in the water as dolphins,
seals are more flexible and agile. Otariids use their front limbs primarily to propel
themselves through the water, while phocids and walruses use their hind limbs.
Otariids and walruses have hind limbs that can be pulled under the body and used as
legs on land. By comparison, terrestrial locomotion by phocids is more cumbersome.
Otariids have visible external ears, while phocids and walruses lack these.

12.

Pinnipeds have well-developed senses—their eyesight and hearing are adapted for
both air and water, and they have an advanced tactile system in their whiskers or
vibrissae. Some species are well adapted for diving to great depths. They have a layer
of fat, or blubber, under the skin to keep warm in the cold water, and, other than the
walrus, all species are covered in fur.
Although pinnipeds are widespread, most species prefer the colder waters of the
Northern and Southern Hemispheres. They spend most of their lives in the water, but
come ashore to mate, give birth, molt or escape from predators, such as sharks and
killer whales. They feed largely on fish and marine invertebrates; a few, such as the
leopard seal, feed on large vertebrates, such as penguins and other seals. Walruses are
specialized for feeding on bottom-dwelling mollusks. Male pinnipeds typically mate
with more than one female (polygyny), although the degree of polygyny varies with
the species. The males of land-breeding species tend to mate with a greater number of
females than those of ice breeding species. Male pinniped strategies for reproductive
success vary between defending females, defending territories that attract females
and performing ritual displays or lek mating. Pups are typically born in the spring
and summer months and females bear almost all the responsibility for raising them.
Mothers of some species fast and nurse their young for a relatively short period of
time while others take foraging trips at sea between nursing bouts. Walruses are
known to nurse their young while at sea. Seals produce a number of vocalizations,
notably the barks of California sea lions, the gong-like calls of walruses and the
complex songs of Weddell seals.

13.

Ringed seal

14.

The ringed seal is an earless seal inhabiting the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. The
ringed seal is a relatively small seal, rarely greater than 1.5 m in length, with a
distinctive patterning of dark spots surrounded by light grey rings, hence its common
name. It is the most abundant and wide-ranging ice seal in the Northern Hemisphere,
ranging throughout the Arctic Ocean, into the Bering Sea and Okhotsk Sea as far
south as the northern coast of Japan in the Pacific and throughout the North Atlantic
coasts of Greenland and Scandinavia as far south as Newfoundland, and including
two freshwater subspecies in northern Europe. Ringed seals are one of the primary
prey of polar bears and killer whales, and have long been a component of the diet of
indigenous people of the Arctic.
Ringed seals are the smallest and most abundant member of the seal family that live
in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions. The average life span of a ringed seal is 40 years,
with a diet based mainly on Arctic cod and planktonic crustaceans. Typically about
1.5 metres long, the ringed seal is known to be solitary with their main predator being
polar bears. Recently, however, the biggest threat to ringed seals has been the
changing temperature in the Arctic and the detrimental changes to sea ice that follow.
With declines in snowpack and sea ice due to warming ocean and atmospheric
temperatures, survival has become tougher for ringed seals in the Arctic and SubArctic regions. Yet ringed seals are also potentially projected to thrive due to
warming, considering the early extinction of their predators. Climate change is sure to
change the fate of all ringed seals in the coming years for better or worse.

15.

The ringed seal is the smallest and most common seal in the Arctic, with a small head,
short cat-like snout, and a plump body. Its coat is dark with silver rings on the back
and sides with a silver belly, giving this seal its vernacular name. Depending on
subspecies and condition, adult size can range from 100 to 175 cm and weigh from 32
to 140 kg. The seal averages about 5 ft long with a weight of about 50–70 kg. This
species is usually considered the smallest species in the true seal family, although
several related species, especially the Baikal seal, may approach similarly diminutive
dimensions. Their small front flippers have claws more than 1 inch thick that are
used to maintain breathing holes through 6.5 ft thick ice.
Ringed seals occur throughout the Arctic Ocean. They can be found in the Baltic Sea,
the Bering Sea and the Hudson Bay. They prefer to rest on ice floe and will move
farther north for denser ice. Two subspecies, P. h. saimensis and ladogensis, can be
found in freshwater.
Ringed seals have a circumpolar distribution from approximately 35°N to the North
Pole, occurring in all seas of the Arctic Ocean. In the North Pacific, they are found in
the southern Bering Sea and range as far south as the seas of Okhotsk and Japan.
Throughout their range, ringed seals have an affinity for ice-covered waters and are
well adapted to occupying seasonal and permanent ice. They tend to prefer large floes
(i.e., > 48 m in diameter) and are often found in the interior ice pack where the sea ice
coverage is greater than 90%. They remain in contact with ice most of the year and
pup on the ice in late winter-early spring.

16.

Ringed seals are found throughout the Beaufort, Chukchi, and Bering Seas, as far
south as Bristol Bay in years of extensive ice coverage. During late April through
June, ringed seals are distributed throughout their range from the southern ice edge
northward. Preliminary results from recent surveys conducted in the Chukchi Sea in
May–June 1999 and 2000 indicate that ringed seal density is higher in nearshore fast
and pack ice, and lower in offshore pack ice. Results of surveys conducted by Frost
and Lowry indicate that, in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea, the density of ringed seals in
May–June is higher to the east than to the west of Flaxman Island. The overall winter
distribution is probably similar, and it is believed there is a net movement of seals
northward with the ice edge in late spring and summer. Thus, ringed seals occupying
the Bering and southern Chukchi seas in winter apparently are migratory, but details
of their movements are unknown.
Ringed seals reside in arctic waters and are commonly associated with ice floes and
pack ice. The ringed seal maintains a breathing hole in the ice thus allowing it to use
ice habitat that other seals cannot.
Ringed seals eat a wide variety of small prey that consists of 72 species of fish and
invertebrates. Feeding is usually a solitary behavior and their prey of choice includes
mysids, shrimp, arctic cod, and herring. While feeding, ringed seals dive to depths of
35 to 150 ft. In the summer ringed seals feed along edge of the sea-ice for polar cod. In
shallow water they feed on smaller cod. Ringed seals may also eat herring, smelt,
whitefish, sculpin, perch, and crustaceans.

17.

Baikal seal

18.

The Baikal seal, Lake Baikal seal or nerpa, is a species of earless seal endemic to Lake
Baikal in Siberia, Russia. Like the Caspian seal, it is related to the Arctic ringed seal.
The Baikal seal is one of the smallest true seals and the only exclusively freshwater
pinniped species. A subpopulation of inland harbour seals living in the Hudson Bay
region of Quebec, Canada, the Saimaa ringed seal (a ringed seal subspecies) and the
Ladoga seal (a ringed seal subspecies) are found in fresh water, but these are part of
species that also have marine populations.
The most recent population estimates are 80,000 to 100,000 animals, roughly equaling
the expected carrying capacity of the lake. At present, the species is not considered
threatened.
The Baikal seal is one of the smallest true seals. Adults typically grow to 1.1–1.4 m in
lengthwith a body mass from 63 to 70 kg. The maximum reported size is 1.65 m in
length and 130 kg in weight. There are significant annual variations in the weight,
with lowest weight in the spring and highest weight, about 38–42% more, in the fall.
The animals show very little sexual dimorphism; males are only slightly larger than
females. They have a uniform, steely-grey coat on their backs and fur with a
yellowish tinge on their abdomens. As the coat weathers, it becomes brownish. When
born, the pups weigh 3–3.5 kg and are about 70 cm long. They have coats of white,
silky, natal fur. This fur is quickly shed and exchanged for a darker coat, much like
that of adults. Rarely, Baikal seals can be found with spotted coats.

19.

The Baikal seal lives only in the waters of Lake Baikal. It is something of a mystery
how Baikal seals came to live there in the first place. They may have swum up rivers
and streams or possibly Lake Baikal was linked to the ocean at some point through a
large body of water, such as the West Siberian Glacial Lake or West Siberian Plain,
formed in a previous ice age. The seals are estimated to have inhabited Lake Baikal
for some two million years.
The areas of the lake in which the Baikal seals reside change depending on the
season, as well as other environmental factors. They are solitary animals for the
majority of the year, sometimes living kilometres away from other Baikal seals. In
general, a higher concentration of Baikal seals is found in the northern parts of the
lake, because the longer winter keeps the ice frozen longer, which is preferable for
pupping. However, in recent years, migrations to the southern half of the lake have
occurred, possibly to evade hunters. In winter, when the lake is frozen over, seals
maintain a few breathing holes over a given area and tend to remain nearby, not
interfering with the food supplies of nearby seals. When the ice begins to melt,
Baikal seals tend to keep to the shoreline.

20.

Caspian seal

21.

The Caspian seal is one of the smallest members of the earless seal family and unique
in that it is found exclusively in the brackish Caspian Sea. They are found not only
along the shorelines, but also on the many rocky islands and floating blocks of ice
that dot the Caspian Sea. In winter, and cooler parts of the spring and autumn season,
these marine mammals populate the Northern Caspian. As the ice melts in the
warmer season, they can be found on the mouths of the Volga and Ural Rivers, as
well as the southern latitudes of the Caspian where cooler waters can be found due to
greater depth.
Evidence suggests the seals are descended from Arctic ringed seals that reached the
area from the north during an earlier part of the Quaternary period and became
isolated in the landlocked Caspian Sea when continental ice sheets melted.
Adults are about 126–129 cm in length. Males are longer than females at an early age,
but females experience more rapid growth until they reach ten years of age. Males can
grow gradually until they reach an age of about 30 or 40 years. Adults weigh around
86 kg; males are generally larger and bulkier.
The skull structure of the Caspian seal suggests it is closely related to the Baikal seal.
In addition, the morphological structures in both species suggest they are descended
from the ringed seal which migrated from larger bodies of water around two million
years ago.

22.

Caspian seals are shallow divers, with diving depths typically reaching 50 m and
lasting about a minute, although deeper and longer dives have been recorded, with at
least one individual seen at depths in excess of 165 m. They are gregarious, spending
most of their time in large colonies.
Caspian seals can be found not only along the shorelines, but also on the many rocky
islands and floating blocks of ice that dot the Caspian Sea. As the ice melts in the
warmer season, they can be found on the mouths of the Volga and Ural Rivers, as
well as the southern latitudes of the Caspian where cooler waters can be found due to
greater depth.
In winter, and cooler parts of the spring and autumn season, these marine mammals
populate the Northern Caspian. In the first days of April, spring migration to the
southern part of the Caspian Sea begins with mature female seals and their pups,
during this migration hungry seals eat the fish in the nets. Male mature seals stay in
the northern Caspian Sea longer and wait until the moulting is completed. In
summer, seals find empty places in the western part of Apsheron for resting. In the
eastern part, the most crowded place used to be the Ogurchinskiy Island, but by 2001,
fewer than 10 pups were recorded on Ogurchinsky, some of which were killed by
people on the island.

23.

Spotted seal

24.

The spotted seal, also known as the larga seal or largha seal, is a member of the
family Phocidae, and is considered a "true seal". It inhabits ice floes and waters of the
north Pacific Ocean and adjacent seas. It is primarily found along the continental
shelf of the Beaufort, Chukchi, Bering and Okhotsk Seasand south to the northern
Yellow Sea and it migrates south as far as northern Huanghai and the western Sea of
Japan. It is also found in Alaska from the southeastern Bristol Bay to Demarcation
Point during the ice-free seasons of summer and autumn when spotted seals mate and
have pups. Smaller numbers are found in the Beaufort Sea. It is sometimes mistaken
for the harbor seal to which it is closely related and spotted seals and harbor seals
often mingle together in areas where their habitats overlap.
The spotted seal is of the family, Phocidae, or "true seals". Compared to other true
seals, they are intermediate in size, with mature adults of both sexes generally
weighing between 180 and 240 pounds and measuring 4.59 to 6.89 ft, roughly the same
size as a harbor seal or ribbon seal. The head of a spotted seal is round, with a narrow
snout resembling that of a dog.
The spotted seal has a relatively small body and short flippers extending behind the
body that provide thrust, while the small flippers in front act as rudders. The dense
fur varies in color from silver to gray and white and is characterized by dark, irregular
spots against the lighter background and covering the entire body. Males and females
differ little in size or shape. In places where their habitat overlaps with that of the
harbor seal, they can be confused with them, as in Bristol Bay, Alaska. Like harbor
seals, spotted seals have 34 teeth.

25.

Spotted seals are inhabitants of arctic or sub-arctic waters, often in the outer areas of
ice floes during the breeding season. They tend not to live within dense drift ice. In
the summer months they live in the open ocean or on nearby shores.
Spotted seals are separated into three populations. The Bering Sea population
includes approximately 100,000 in the western Bering Sea near Kamchatka, in the
Gulf of Anadyr in Russia, and in the eastern Bering Sea in Alaskan waters (the only
population in the US). A second population of about 100,000 seals breeds in the Sea of
Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk. A third population of about 3,300 seals is to the south
in Liaodong Bay, China and Peter the Great Bay, Russia. There is also a smaller
population of 300 grey spotted seals living in waters off Baekryeong Island located
far north of the west coast of South Korea.In order to prevent the squabble from
being fought by water-bombing rocks on Baengnyeong Island, the Hani Sea Water
Leopard Artificial Rest Area has been set up.

26.

Harbor seal

27.

The harbor (or harbour) seal, also known as the common seal, is a true seal found
along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most
widely distributed species of pinniped (walruses, eared seals, and true seals), they are
found in coastal waters of the northern Atlantic, Pacific Oceans, Baltic and North
Seas.
Harbor seals are brown, silvery white, tan, or gray, with distinctive V-shaped nostrils.
An adult can attain a length of 1.85 m and a mass of up to 168 kg. Blubber under the
seal's skin helps to maintain body temperature. Females outlive males (30–35 years
versus 20–25 years). Harbor seals stick to familiar resting spots or haulout sites,
generally rocky areas (although ice, sand, and mud may also be used) where they are
protected from adverse weather conditions and predation, near a foraging area. Males
may fight over mates under water and on land. Females bear a single pup after a ninemonth gestation, which they care for alone. Pups can weigh up to 16 kg and are able
to swim and dive within hours of birth. They develop quickly on their mothers' fatrich milk, and are weaned after four to six weeks.
The global population of harbor seals is 350,000–500,000, but subspecies in certain
habitats are threatened. Once a common practice, sealing is now illegal in many
nations within the animal's range.

28.

Individual harbor seals possess a unique pattern of spots, either dark on a light
background or light on a dark. They vary in color from brownish black to tan or grey;
underparts are generally lighter. The body and flippers are short, heads are rounded.
Nostrils appear distinctively V-shaped. As with other true seals, there is no pinna (ear
flap). An ear canal may be visible behind the eye. Including the head and flippers,
they may reach an adult length of 1.85 meters and a weight of 55 to 168 kg. Females
are generally smaller than males.
Harbor seals prefer to frequent familiar resting sites. They may spend several days at
sea and travel up to 50 km in search of feeding grounds, and will also swim more
than a hundred miles upstream into fresh water in large rivers in search of migratory
fish like shad and likely salmon. Resting sites may be both rugged, rocky coasts, such
as those of the Hebrides or the shorelines of New England, or sandy beaches, like the
ones that flank Normandy in Northern France or the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Harbor seals frequently congregate in harbors, bays, sandy intertidal zones, and
estuaries in pursuit of prey fish such as salmon, menhaden, anchovy, sea bass,
herring, mackerel, cod, whiting and flatfish, and occasionally shrimp, crabs,
mollusks, and squid. Atlantic subspecies of either Europe or North America also
exploit deeper-dwelling fish of the genus Ammodytes as a food source and Pacific
subspecies have been recorded occasionally consuming fish of the genus
Oncorhynchus. Although primarily coastal, dives of over 500 m have been recorded.
Harbor seals have been recorded to attack, kill and eat several kinds of ducks.

29.

Grey seal

30.

The grey seal is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is a large seal of
the family Phocidae, which are commonly referred to as "true seals" or "earless seals".
It is the only species classified in the genus Halichoerus. Its name is spelled gray seal
in the US; it is also known as Atlantic seal and the horsehead seal.
This is a fairly large seal, with bulls in the eastern Atlantic populations reaching 1.95–
2.3 m long and weighing 170–310 kg; the cows are much smaller, typically 1.6–1.95 m
long and 100–190 kg in weight. Individuals from the western Atlantic are often much
larger, with males averaging up to 2.7 m and reaching a weight of as much as 400 kg
and females averaging up to 2.05 m and sometimes weighing up to 250 kg. Recordsized bull grey seals can reach about 3.3 m in length. A common average weight in
Great Britain was found to be about 233 kg for males and 154.6 kg for females
whereas in Nova Scotia, Canada adult males averaged 294.6 kg and adult females
averaged 224.5 kg. It is distinguished from the smaller harbor seal by its straight head
profile, nostrils set well apart, and fewer spots on its body. Wintering hooded seals
can be confused with grey seals as they are about the same size and somewhat share a
large-nosed look but the hooded has a paler base colour and usually evidences a
stronger spotting. Grey seals lack external ear flaps and characteristically have large
snouts. Bull greys have larger noses and a less curved profile than harbor seal bulls.
Males are generally darker than females, with lighter patches and often scarring
around the neck. Females are silver grey to brown with dark patches.

31.

The grey seal feeds on a wide variety of fish, mostly benthic or demersal species,
taken at depths down to 70 m or more. Sand eels are important in its diet in many
localities. Cod and other gadids, flatfish, herring, wrasse and skates are also
important locally. However, it is clear that the grey seal will eat whatever is available,
including octopus and lobsters. The average daily food requirement is estimated to be
5 kg, though the seal does not feed every day and it fasts during the breeding season.
Recent observations and studies from Scotland, The Netherlands and Germany show
that grey seals will also prey and feed on large animals like harbour seals and
harbour porpoises. In 2014, a male grey seal in the North Sea was documented and
filmed killing and cannibalising 11 pups of his own species over the course of a
week. Similar wounds on the carcasses of pups found elsewhere in the region suggest
that cannibalism and infanticide may not be uncommon in grey seals. Male grey seals
may engage in such behaviour potentially as a way of increasing reproductive success
through access to easy prey without leaving prime territory.

32.

Ribbon seal

33.

The ribbon seal is a medium-sized pinniped from the true seal family. A seasonally
ice-bound species, it is found in the Arctic and Subarctic regions of the North Pacific
Ocean, notably in the Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk. It is distinguished by its
striking coloration, with two wide white strips and two white circles against dark
brown or black fur.
Adult seals are recognizable by their black skin, which carries four white markings: a
strip around the neck, one around the tail and a circular marking on each body side,
which encloses the front fins. The contrast is particularly strong with the males, while
with females the difference in color between bright and dark portions is often less
conspicuous. Newborn ribbon seal pups have white natal fur. After moulting their
natal fur, their color changes to blue-grey on their backs and silvery beneath. Over
the course of three years, portions of the fur become darker and others brighter after
every molt, and only at the age of four years does the striped pattern emerge.
The ribbon seal has a short snout with broad, deep internal nares and large, rounded,
front-facing orbits. Like other phocids it possess enlarged auditory bullae and lacks a
sagittal crest. The ribbon seal has curved, widely spaced dentition and smaller
canines than other species of phocid.

34.

The ribbon seal has a large inflatable air sac that is connected to the trachea and
extends on the right side over the ribs. It is larger in males than in females, and it is
thought that it is used to produce underwater vocalizations, perhaps for attracting a
mate. Unlike other pinnipeds, the ribbon seal lack lobes in its lungs that divide the
lungs into smaller compartments. The ribbon seal can grow about 1.6 m long,
weighing 95 kg in both sexes.
The main predators of ribbon seals include Great white sharks and Killer whales.
Ribbon seals are rarely seen out on the ice and snow. Their method of movement on
the ice is highly specialized. While quickly undulating their body in serpentine
motion, they grip into the ice with their claws and use alternating flipper strokes to
pull themselves across the ice's surface. It has been observed that this form of
locomotion is rendered ineffective on other surfaces, most likely due to the increased
friction between the animal's fur and the substrate.
The diet of ribbon seal consists almost exclusively of pelagic creatures: fish like
pollocks, eelpouts, the Arctic cod and cephalopods such as squid and octopus; young
seals eat crustaceans as well. The ribbon seal dives to depths of up to 200 m in search
of food; it is solitary and forms no herds.
Ribbon seals located in the Bering Sea consume pollock, eelpout, and arctic cod.
Adult seals have relatively weak and smooth canines because their food does not
need to be viciously torn.

35.

Harp seal

36.

The harp seal, also known as saddleback seal or Greenland seal, is a species of earless
seal, or true seal, native to the northernmost Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean.
Originally in the genus Phoca with a number of other species, it was reclassified into
the monotypic genus Pagophilus in 1844. In Greek, its scientific name translates to
"ice-lover from Greenland," and its taxonomic synonym, Phoca groenlandica
translates to "Greenlandic seal.«
The mature harp seal has pure black eyes. It has a silver-gray fur covering its body,
with black harp or wishbone-shaped markings dorsally. Adult harp seals grow to be
1.7 to 2.0 m long and weigh from 115 to 140 kg. The harp seal pup often has a yellowwhite coat at birth due to staining from amniotic fluid, but after one to three days, the
coat turns white and stays white for 2–3 weeks, until the first molt. Adolescent harp
seals have a silver-gray coat spotted with black.
Like most pinnipeds, harp seals are carnivorous. They have a diverse diet including
several dozen fish and invertebrate species. The White Sea population migrates
northward in the summer to forage extensively in the Barents Sea, where common
prey items include krill, capelin, herring, flat fish and Gadiform fish. Harp seals
prefer some prey, though their diet depends largely on prey abundance. Diet and
abundance analysis of the Svalbard population found that this population
predominantly eats krill, followed closely by polar cod.

37.

Some individuals from the Greenland Sea sub-population have foraged in the
Barents Sea alongside the White Sea sub-population during late summer and fall.
Barents Sea harp seals eat mostly herring and polar cod but less krill or amphipods,
likely because these seals usually dive deeper than such prey.
Global harp seal population estimates total around 7.6 million individuals. The
number of pups born in the traditional pupping area of the southern Gulf of St.
Lawrence was greatly reduced, with an estimated pup production of only 18,300.
Another 13,600 pups were born in the northern Gulf. An estimated 714,600 pups were
born off the northeastern coast of Newfoundland (Front); accounting for 96% of all
pupping in 2017. Combining the estimates from all areas resulted in an estimated
total pup production of 746,500. Due to their dependence on pack ice for breeding, the
harp seal range is restricted to areas where pack ice forms seasonally. The western
North Atlantic stock, which is the largest, is located off eastern Canada. This
population is further divided into two separate herds based on the breeding location.
The Front herd breeds off the coast of Labrador and Newfoundland, and the Gulf
herd breeds near the Magdalen Islands in the middle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. A
second stock breeds on the "West Ice" off eastern Greenland. A third stock breeds on
the "East Ice" in the White Sea, which is off the north coast of Russia below the
Barents ea. Breeding occurs between mid-February and April, and varies somewhat
for each stock. The three stocks are allopatric and don't interbreed.

38.

Hooded seal

39.

The hooded seal is a large phocid found only in the central and western North
Atlantic, ranging from Svalbard in the east to the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the west.
The seals are typically silver-grey or white in color, with black spots that vary in size
covering most of the body. Hooded seal pups are known as "blue-backs" because
their coats are blue-grey on the back with whitish bellies, though this coat is shed
after 14 months of age when the pups molt.
Hooded seals live primarily on drifting pack ice and in deep water in the Arctic
Ocean and North Atlantic. Although some drift away to warmer regions during the
year, their best survival rate is in colder climates. They can be found on four distinct
areas with pack ice: near Jan Mayen Island (northeast of Iceland); off Labrador and
northeastern Newfoundland; the Gulf of St. Lawrence; and the Davis Strait (off
midwestern Greenland). Males appear to be localized around areas of complex
seabed, such as Baffin Bay, Davis Strait, and the Flemish cap, while females
concentrate their habitat efforts primarily on shelf areas, such as the Labrador Shelf.
Hooded seals are known to be a highly migratory species that often wander long
distances, as far west as Alaska and as far south as the Canary Islands and
Guadeloupe. Prior to the mid 1990s, hooded seal sightings in Maine and the east
Atlantic were rare, but began increasing in the mid 1990s. From January 1997 to
December 1999, a total of 84 recorded sightings of hooded seals occurred in the Gulf
of Maine, one in France and one in Portugal. From 1996 to 2006, five strandings and
sightings were noted near the Spanish coasts in the Mediterranean Sea. There is no
scientific explanation for the increase in sightings and range of the hooded seal.

40.

Bearded seal

41.

The bearded seal, also called the square flipper seal, is a medium-sized pinniped that
is found in and near to the Arctic Ocean. It gets its generic name from two Greek
words (eri and gnathos) that refer to its heavy jaw. The other part of its Linnaean
name means bearded and refers to its most characteristic feature, the conspicuous and
very abundant whiskers. When dry, these whiskers curl very elegantly, giving the
bearded seal a "raffish" look.
Bearded seals are the largest northern phocid. They have been found to weigh as
much as 300 kg with the females being the largest. However, male and female
bearded seals are not very dimorphic.
Distinguishing features of this earless seal include square fore flippers and thick
bristles on its muzzle. Adults are greyish-brown in colour, darker on the back; rarely
with a few faint spots on the back or dark spots on the sides. Occasionally the face
and neck are reddish brown. Bearded seal pups are born with a greyish-brown natal
fur with scattered patches of white on the back and head. The bearded seal is unique
in the subfamily Phocinae in having two pairs of teats, a feature it shares with monk
seals.
Bearded seals reach about 2.1 to 2.7 m in nose-to-tail length and from 200 to 430 kg in
weight. The female seal is larger than the male, meaning that they are sexually
dimorphic.

42.

Bearded seals, along with ringed seals, are a major food source for polar bears. They
are also an important food source for the Inuit of the Arctic coast. The Inuit language
name for the seal is ugjuk or oogrook or oogruk. The Inuit preferred the ringed seal
for food and light; the meat would be eaten and the blubber burnt in the kudlik
(stone lamp). The skin of the bearded seal is tougher than regular seal and was used
to make shoes, whips, dog sled harnesses, to cover a wooden frame boat, the Umiak
and in constructing summer tents known as tupiq.
The body fat content of a bearded seal is about 25–40%.
Bearded seals are extant in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. In the Pacific region, they
extend from the Chukchi Sea in the Arctic, south into the Bering Sea where they span
from Bristol Bay on the Alaskan coast to the Sea of Okhotsk on the Russian coast, up
to but not including the northern coast of Japan. In the Arctic Ocean, they are found
along the northern coasts of Russia, Norway, Canada, and Alaska, including the
Norwegian Archipelago of Svalbard and Canadian Arctic Archipelago. In the
Atlantic, Bearded seals are found along the northern coast of Iceland, the east and
west coasts of Greenland and the Canadian mainland as far south as Labrador.
Although the range typically only extends down into sub-arctic areas bearded seals
have been seen in Japan and China, as well as extremely far south of their range in
Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, Spain and Portugal.

43.

Weddell seal

44.

The Weddell seal is a relatively large and abundant true seal with a circumpolar
distribution surrounding Antarctica. The Weddell seal was discovered and named in
the 1820s during expeditions led by British sealing captain James Weddell to the area
of the Southern Ocean now known as the Weddell Sea. The life history of this species
is well documented since it occupies fast ice environments close to the Antarctic
continent and often adjacent to Antarctic bases.
Weddell seals measure about 2.5–3.5 m long and weigh 400–600 kg. They are amongst
the largest seals, with a rather bulky body and short fore flippers relative to their
body length. Males weigh less than females, usually about 500 kg or less. Male and
female Weddell seals are generally about the same length, though females can be
slightly larger. However, the male seal tends to have a thicker neck and a broader
head and muzzle than the female. A molecular genetic based technique has been
established to confirm the sex of individuals in the laboratory. The Weddell seal face
has been compared to that of a cat due to a short mouth line and similarities in the
structure of the nose and whiskers.

45.

The Weddell seal grows a thin fur coat around its whole body except for small areas
around the flippers. The colour and pattern of the coat varies, often fading to a duller
colour as the seal ages. This coat moults around the beginning of summer. Adults
show a counter-shaded coloration that varies from bluish-black to dark gray dorsally
and to light gray/silver ventrally. Coats may change to shades of brown before the
annual molt. Adult males usually bear scars, most of them around the genital region.
Weddell seal pups are born with a lanugo of similar coloration and they moult after
3–4 weeks; later, they turn a darker color similar to that of adults. The pups are
around half the length of their mother at birth, and weigh 25–30 kg. They gain around
2 kg a day, and by 6–7 weeks old they can weigh around 100 kg.

46.

Leopard seal

47.

The leopard seal, also referred to as the sea leopard, is the second largest species of
seal in the Antarctic (after the southern elephant seal). Its only natural predator is the
killer whale. It feeds on a wide range of prey including cephalopods, other
pinnipeds, krill, birds and fish. It is the only species in the genus Hydrurga. Its
closest relatives are the Ross seal, the crabeater seal and the Weddell seal, which
together are known as the tribe of Lobodontini seals. The name hydrurga means
"water worker" and leptonyx is the Greek for "thin-clawed".
The leopard seal has a distinctively long and muscular body shape when compared to
other seals, but it is perhaps best known for its reptilian-like head and massive jaws
which are enormous for its body size and which allow it to be one of the top
predators in its environment. The front teeth are sharp like those of other carnivores,
but their molars lock together in a way that allows them to sieve krill from the water
in the manner of the crabeater seal. The coat is counter-shaded with a silver to dark
gray blend and a distinctive spotted "leopard" coloration pattern dorsally and a paler,
white to light gray color ventrally. Females are slightly larger than males. The overall
length of adults is 2.4–3.5 m and weight is from 200 to 600 kilograms making them the
same length as the northern walrus but usually less than half the weight. The
whiskers are short and clear.
As "true" seals, they do not have external ears or pinnae, but possess an internal ear
canal that leads to an external opening. Their hearing in air is similar to that of a
human, but scientists have noted that leopard seals use their ears in conjunction with
their whiskers to track prey under water.

48.

Leopard seals are pagophilic ("ice-loving") seals, which primarily inhabit the
Antarctic pack ice between 50˚S and 80˚S. Sightings of vagrant leopard seals have
been recorded on the coasts of Australia, New Zealand (where individuals have been
seen even on the foreshores of major cities such as Auckland and Dunedin), South
America, and South Africa. In August 2018, an individual was sighted at Geraldton,
on the west coast of Australia. Higher densities of leopard seals are seen in the
Western Antarctic than in other regions.
Most leopard seals remain within the pack ice throughout the year and remain
solitary during most of their lives with the exception of a mother and her newborn
pup. These matrilineal groups can move further north in the austral winter to subantarctic islands and the coastlines of the southern continents to provide care for their
pups.

49.

Crabeater seal

50.

The crabeater seal, also known as the krill-eater seal, is a true seal with a circumpolar
distribution around the coast of Antarctica. They are medium- to large-sized (over 2 m
in length), relatively slender and pale-colored, found primarily on the free-floating
pack ice that extends seasonally out from the Antarctic coast, which they use as a
platform for resting, mating, social aggregation and accessing their prey. They are by
far the most abundant seal species in the world. While population estimates are
uncertain, there are at least 7 million and possibly as many as 75 million individuals.
This success of this species is due to its specialized predation on the abundant
Antarctic krill of the Southern Ocean, for which it has uniquely adapted, sieve-like
tooth structure. Indeed, its scientific name, translated as "lobe-toothed (lobodon) crab
eater", refers specifically to the finely lobed teeth adapted to filtering their small
crustacean prey. Despite its name, crabeater seals do not eat crabs. As well as being an
important krill predator, the crabeater seal's pups are an important component of the
diet of leopard seals, which are responsible for 80% of all crabeater pups deaths.
Adult seals (over five years old) grow to an average length of 2.3 m and an average
weight of around 200 kg. Females are on average 6 cm longer and around 8 kilograms
heavier than males, though their weights fluctuate substantially according to season;
females can lose up to 50% of their body weight during lactation, and males lose a
significant proportion of weight as they attend to their mating partners and fight off
rivals. During summer, males typically weigh 200 kilograms, and females 215
kilograms.

51.

A molecular genetic based technique has been established to confirm the sex of
individuals in the laboratory. Large crabeater seals can weigh up to 300 kg. Pups are
about 1.2 metres in length and 20 to 30 kilograms at birth. While nursing, pups grow
at a rate of about 4.2 kilograms a day, and grow to be around 100 kilograms when they
are weaned at two or three weeks.
These seals are covered mostly by brown or silver fur, with darker coloration around
flippers. The color fades throughout the year, and recently molted seals appear darker
than the silvery-white crabeater seals that are about to molt. Their body is
comparatively more slender than other seals, and the snout is pointed. Crabeater seals
can raise their heads and arch their backs while on ice, and they are able to move
quickly if not subject to overheating. Crabeater seals exhibit scarring either from
leopard seal attacks around the flippers or, for males, during the breeding season
while fighting for mates around the throat and jaw. Pups are born with a light brown,
downy pelage (lanugo), until the first molt at weaning. Younger animals are marked
by net-like, chocolate brown markings and flecks on the shoulders, sides and flanks,
shading into the predominantly dark hind and fore flippers and head, often due to
scarring from leopard seals. After molting, their fur is a darker brown fading to
blonde on their bellies. The fur lightens throughout the year, becoming completely
blonde in summer.

52.

Elephant seal

53.

The elephant seal is one of two species of elephant seals. It is the largest member of
the clade Pinnipedia and the order Carnivora, as well as the largest extant marine
mammal that is not a cetacean. It gets its name from its massive size and the large
proboscis of the adult male, which is used to produce very loud roars, especially
during the breeding season. A bull southern elephant seal is about 40% heavier than a
male northern elephant seal, more than twice as heavy as a male walrus, and 6–7
times heavier than the largest living terrestrial carnivorans, the polar bear and the
Kodiak bear.
Elephant seal size also varies regionally. Studies have indicated elephant seals from
South Georgia are around 30% heavier and 10% longer on average than those from
Macquarie Island. The record-sized bull, shot in Possession Bay, South Georgia, on 28
February 1913, measured 6.85 m long and was estimated to weigh 5,000 kg, although it
was only partially weighed piecemeal. The maximum size of a female is 1,000 kg and
3.7 m.
Elephant seal's eyes are large, round, and black. The width of the eyes, and a high
concentration of low-light pigments, suggest sight plays an important role in the
capture of prey. Like all seals, elephant seals have hind limbs whose ends form the
tail and tail fin. Each of the "feet" can deploy five long, webbed fingers.

54.

This agile dual palm is used to propel water. The pectoral fins are used little while
swimming. While their hind limbs are unfit for locomotion on land, elephant seals
use their fins as support to propel their bodies. They are able to propel themselves
quickly (as fast as 8 km/h) in this way for short-distance travel, to return to water, to
catch up with a female, or to chase an intruder.
Pups are born with fur and are completely black. Their coats are unsuited to water,
but protect infants by insulating them from the cold air. The first moulting
accompanies weaning. After moulting, the coats may turn grey and brown, depending
on the thickness and moisture of hair. Among older males, the skin takes the form of
a thick leather which is often scarred.
Like other seals, the vascular system of elephant seals is adapted to the cold; a
mixture of small veins surround arteries, capturing heat from them. This structure is
present in extremities such as the hind legs.

55.

Monk seal

56.

The monk seal is a monk seal belonging to the family Phocidae. As of 2015, it is
estimated that fewer than 700 individuals survive in three or four isolated
subpopulations in the Mediterranean, (especially) in the Aegean Sea, the archipelago
of Madeira and the Cabo Blanco area in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. It is
believed to be the world's rarest pinniped species.
This species of seal grows from approximately 80 centimetres long at birth up to an
average of 2.4 metres as adults, females slightly shorter than males. Males weigh an
average of 320 kilograms and females weigh 300 kilograms, with overall weight
ranging from 240–400 kilograms. They are thought to live up to 45 years old; the
average life span is thought to be 20 to 25 years old and reproductive maturity is
reached at around age four.
The monk seals' pups are about 1 metre long and weigh around 15–18 kilograms, their
skin being covered by 1–1.5 centimeter-long, dark brown to black hair. On their
bellies, there is a white stripe, which differs in color and shape between the two
sexes. In females the stripe is usually rectangular in shape whereas in males it is
usually butterfly shaped. This hair is replaced after six to eight weeks by the usual
short hair adults carry. Adults will continue to molt annually, causing their color
vibrancy to change throughout the year.

57.

Pregnant monk seals typically use inaccessible undersea caves while giving birth,
though historical descriptions show they used open beaches until the 18th century.
There are eight pairs of teeth in both jaws.
Believed to have the shortest hair of any pinniped, the Mediterranean monk seal fur
is black (males) or brown to dark grey (females), with a paler belly, which is close to
white in males. The snout is short broad and flat, with very pronounced, long nostrils
that face upward, unlike their Hawaiian relative, which tend to have more forward
nostrils. The flippers are relatively short, with small slender claws. Monk seals have
two pairs of retractable abdominal teats, unlike most other pinnipeds.
Monk seals are diurnal and feed on a variety of fish and mollusks, primarily octopus,
squid, and eels, up to 3 kg per day. Although they commonly feed in shallow coastal
waters, they are also known to forage at depths up to 250 meters, with an average
depth varying between specimens. Monk seals prefer hunting in wide-open spaces,
enabling them to use their speed more effectively. They are successful bottomfeeding hunters; some have even been observed lifting slabs of rock in search of prey.

58.

Fur seal

59.

The fur seal, is one of eight seals in the genus Arctocephalus, and one of nine fur
seals in the subfamily Arctocephalinae. Despite what its name suggests, the Antarctic
fur seal is mostly distributed in Subantarctic islandsand its scientific name is thought
to have come from the German vessel SMS Gazelle, which was the first to collect
specimens of this species from Kerguelen Islands.
This fur seal is a midsized pinniped with a relatively long neck and pointed muzzle
compared with others in the family. The nose does not extend much past the mouth,
the external ears are long, prominent, and naked at the tip. Adults have very long
vibrissae, particularly males, up to 35 to 50 cm. The fore flippers are about one-third,
and hind flippers slightly more than one-fourth, of the total length. These seals find
the antarctic warm so they take plunges in cold water to stay cold.
Adult males are dark brown in colour. Females and juveniles tend to be paler, almost
grey with lighter undersides. Colour patterns are highly variable, and scientists
reported that some hybridization between Subantarctic and Antarctic fur seals has
occurred. Pups are dark brown at birth, almost black in color. About one in 1000
Antarctic fur seals are pale 'blonde' variants - not albino - and they stay so as adults.
Males are substantially larger than females. Males grow up to 2 m long and with a
mean weigh of 133 kg. Females reach 1.4 m with a mean weight of 34 kg. At birth,
mean standard length is 67.4cm and mass is 5.9kg in males and 5.4kg in females.
Antarctic fur seals live up to 20 years with a maximum observed for female of 24.

60.

Sea lion

61.

The sea lion, also called the Southern Sea Lion and the Patagonian sea lion, is a sea
lion found on the Ecuadorian, Peruvian, Chilean, Falkland Islands, Argentinean,
Uruguayan, and Southern Brazilian coasts. It is the only member of the genus Otaria.
Its scientific name was subject to controversy, with some taxonomists referring to it as
Otaria flavescens and others referring to it as Otaria byronia. The former eventually
won out, although that may still be overturned. Locally, it is known by several names,
most commonly lobo marino (sea wolf) and león marino and the hair seal.
The South American sea lion is perhaps the archetypal sea lion in appearance. Males
have a very large head with a well-developed mane, making them the most lionesque
of the eared seals. They are twice the weight of females. Both males and females are
orange or brown coloured with upturned snouts. Pups are born greyish orange
ventrally and black dorsally and moult into a more chocolate colour.
The South American sea lion's size and weight can vary considerably. Adult males
can grow over 2.73 m and weigh up to 350 kg. Adult females grow up to 1.8–2 m and
weigh about half the weight of the males, around 150 kg. This species is even more
sexually dimorphic than the other sea lions.

62.

Walrus

63.

The walrus is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution
about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern
Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the family Odobenidae and
genus Odobenus. This species is subdivided into two subspecies:the Atlantic walrus,
which lives in the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific walrus, which lives in the Pacific
Ocean.
Adult walrus are characterised by prominent tusks and whiskers, and their
considerable bulk: adult males in the Pacific can weigh more than 2,000 kilograms
and, among pinnipeds, are exceeded in size only by the two species of elephant seals.
Walruses live mostly in shallow waters above the continental shelves, spending
significant amounts of their lives on the sea ice looking for benthic bivalve mollusks
to eat. Walruses are relatively long-lived, social animals, and they are considered to
be a "keystone species" in the Arctic marine regions.
While some outsized Pacific males can weigh as much as 2,000 kg, most weigh
between 800 and 1,700 kg. An occasional male of the Pacific subspecies far exceeds
normal dimensions. In 1909, a walrus hide weighing 500 kg was collected from an
enormous bull in Franz Josef Land, while in August 1910, Jack Woodson shot a 4.9metre-long walrus, harvesting its 450 kg hide. Since a walrus's hide usually accounts
for about 20% of its body weight, the total body mass of these two giants is estimated
to have been at least 2,300 kg.

64.

The subspecies weighs about 10–20% less than the Pacific subspecies. Male Atlantic
walrus weigh an average of 900 kg. The Atlantic walrus also tends to have relatively
shorter tusks and somewhat more flattened snout. Females weigh about two-thirds as
much as males, with the Atlantic females averaging 560 kg, sometimes weighing as
little as 400 kg, and the Pacific female averaging 800 kg. Length typically ranges from
2.2 to 3.6 m. Newborn walruses are already quite large, averaging 33 to 85 kg in
weight and 1 to 1.4 m in length across both sexes and subspecies. All told, the walrus
is the third largest pinniped species, after the two elephant seals. Walruses maintain
such a high body weight because of the blubber stored underneath their skin. This
blubber keeps them warm and the fat provides energy to the walrus.
The walrus's body shape shares features with both sea lions and seals. As with
otariids, it can turn its rear flippers forward and move on all fours; however, its
swimming technique is more like that of true seals, relying less on flippers and more
on sinuous whole body movements. Also like phocids, it lacks external ears.
The extraocular muscles of the walrus are well-developed. This and its lack of orbital
roof allow it to protrude its eyes and see in both a frontal and dorsal direction.
However, vision in this species appears to be more suited for short-range.