One of the most noticeable characteristics of true seals is that they lack ear flaps and have an exposed hole for an ear. True seals also have fused pelvic bones which impacts how they move on land and in water. True seals will scrunch their body like caterpillars to move on land, and in the water they use their back flippers for power and their front flippers for steering.
This differs from fur seals and sea lions, which use all four flippers to move on land and use all four flippers to propel themselves in water. Harbor seals can have widely varying colors but most are light tan or gray with dark brown or black spots.
Harbor seals are opportunistic feeders, with diets that includes a range of fish, shellfish and crustaceans. They can dive for up to 30 minutes in search of food. On Stellwagen, small pups are often found treading water while waiting for mom to return from a dive. Adults of both sexes are similar in appearance, with lighter undersides, brown to gray topsides and differing amounts of irregular spots throughout. At sea, they can be hard to spot.
Only their heads are visible as they come up for air, their snouts are small and pointed, and they have a small but definite brow. If you have binoculars, you can spot ear openings just behind the eyes. Gray seals , Halichoerus gypus, are the largest seal found in the area, with males growing to 8 feet and weighing over pounds 2.
Females are somewhat smaller, measuring 7 feet and weighing less than pounds 2 m. Besides size, the sexes differ in a number of ways: males tend to be darker with few light spots, while females tend to be light with dark, irregular blotches. Young can be easily confused with harbor seals.
With a head-on view, gray seals have wide-set nostrils that form a W, while harbor seals have close-set nostrils that form a small V. Sometimes called horseheads, gray seals of both sexes have broad, long snouts that become more pronounced, especially in males.
In recent years, the number of gray seals in New England seems to have grown. It is not yet clear if the Canadian population is simply growing and moving south, or if there are other, environmental factors at work.
Highly gregarious, gray seals are often found in large groups hauled out on quiet sand or rock beaches for rest and breeding. Females in this area, such as Monomoy Island in Nantucket Sound, give birth to one, white-coated pup from late December to mid February. The pup is nursed intensively for about 15 to 20 days on an increasingly fatty milk. Females come into estrus about 2 weeks after weaning their pups. Males are highly competitive over access to groups of females on shore. Harp seals , Pagophilus groenlandicus, grow to about ameter and a half, weighing about kg.
Often adult seals are spotted with netting or rope around their necks which need to be reported to the RSPCA. Alternatively, in Cornwall, if you are concerned about a live seal, contact the British Divers Marine Life Rescue who will send out a trained medic to assess the seal on Find more information at the Cornwall Seal Research group, cornwallsealgroup.
The seals are here because of the wide expanse of sand at Horsey, where there are miles of pebble-dotted beaches. A sea wall borders the beach and beyond it there are large dunes. The upper beach provides a safe haven from waves, even at high tide — essential because young seal pups cannot swim.
The colony has around 4, seals in all, and the numbers are booming. Whereas in only grey seal pups were born, last winter more than 2, began their lives here. Not only are the mothers of 25 or 30 years returning annually, but young females come into season after four or five years and are drawn back to the place of their birth.
Luckily, there is plenty of room for them all. Then with the first warm spring sunshine, a smattering of harbour or common seals — smaller cousins to greys — arrive for their summer breeding season. By June and July, the drama is repeated as hundreds of harbour seals give birth. The problem is that some visitors find the pups irresistibly cute. Amateur photographers have been seen poking lenses into the faces of seals, with others allowing dogs and children to run among the colony unchecked.
There have been accounts of people prodding seals and even shoving them into the sea. One father had to be stopped from trying to sit a toddler on the back of a seal pup at nearby Winterton, apparently to take a photograph.
The fact that some seals make no attempt to move when approached encourages some visitors to get ever closer. Unfortunately, such close encounters with humans and their pets distress adult seals. Stephanie says rescue attempts by Seal and Shore Watch — whose medics operate along most of the Norfolk coast — are sometimes hindered when curious onlookers fail to move back and let the medics do their jobs.
Human intruders affect healthy seals, too. Unfortunately, if even one seal is spooked into bolting for the water, the rest will follow, tiring them out and lowering their body temperature.
The same is true of weaned pups in their new adult coats; they come ashore to rest and will only return to the sea when ready — unless they are startled into fleeing. In summer, there are sometimes so many people on the beach that harbour seal pups — now novice swimmers — can find it hard to locate a quiet place to come ashore.
In some cases, mother seals may flee to the sea, abandoning their pups, which then face possible starvation. Some dog owners let their pets off the lead to run among the colony, causing severe problems. Quite apart from the risk to seals, there is also a danger to the humans and dogs who stray too close. Seals have the bite of a Rottweiler and a mouth full of unpleasant bacteria; a wound can take up to a year to heal.
And while seals appear heavy and cumbersome on land, he warns that they are actually agile and quick to strike in self-defence. A mother feeding her pup in particular will be ferociously protective.
Winterton, to the east, throws up different issues. Unlike Horsey, it has no sea wall and is just a continuous stretch of sand, making it almost impossible to rope off sensitive areas. The gentle rise of the beach entices pregnant cow seals and it is easy for walkers to stumble across a mum and pup in a sandy hollow. These dunes also contain bulls, which can be dangerous. Some online information about the coastal path suggest s to walkers that they can access anywhere along the shoreline, which people find misleading.
If the animal needs help the responders will know what to do. Mom and pups are especially sensitive to disturbance. They don't have much time together and need all of that time for resting, bonding, and nursing to make sure the pup can grow and thrive once it leaves mom's side.
Touching wild animals is never a good idea. On top of being a violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, touching, or attempting to touch seals can scare and stress them out. Seals also have large canine teeth and will bite if they feel threatened. They can transmit diseases to pets, so always make sure dogs are leashed if seals are in the area. Sometimes moms will leave their pups alone on the beach while they go off to feed.
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