About Seal Behavior

Visitors to wild animal water parks have been treated to the performances and antics of the California sea lion. For the audience it will bounce a ball on its nose before tossing it into a hoop. In the wild there are various seal species, such as the hooded seal. The male hooded seal's nose creates a pouch that goes over the top it its head. When irritated, the male will blow air into the pouch, making it puff up like a large red balloon. In the wild or domesticated, the seals provide fascination for the observer.

Identification

A seal is a torpedo shaped sea animal that lives both on land and in water. Except for some adult males, their bodies are covered with hair, making seal fur a thick coat of fine hair. The head of most seals tend to be small, with large shiny eyes and whiskers on their upper lip. The seals have four legs, with the leg bones above the ankles inside their body. Instead of feet they have flippers, which assist in their swimming abilities.

Geography

Most seals live in the Northern Hemisphere. Seals are superb swimmers and live primarily in sea water, yet some do live in fresh water. Some types of seals spend most of their time on land, or floating ice, while other seals might spend as much as eight months at sea. Some seals migrate approximately 5,000 miles each year from the Bering Sea towards Mexico. Seals have been known to swim up to 100 miles away from the shore. When it is time to give birth, the seals go onto land.

Size

Seals range in size, from the smallest seal, the Arctic's ring seal which is approximately 4 ½ feet long, and can weigh up to 200 pounds, to the southern elephant seal that can weigh up to 8,000 pounds. The elephant seal is the second largest sea mammal and lives in the sub-Antarctic waters by South America. In length the southern elephant can reach 21 feet.

Types

Most types of seals live in large groups, while a few species might live alone or with several other seals. Each spring the young males head to their breeding grounds to find mates. This might bring together more than 150,000 seals at one location. An established male seal or bull will have a harem of cows, or female seals. Bull seals will fight younger seals to retain their territory. When an older bull male looses his harem, he will normally live away from the other seals.

Identification

Female seals normally give birth to one pup, twins are rare. Newborns are able to travel immediately. The baby seal will stay with its mother for about 4 months. Baby seals will get nourishment from its mother's milk, while older seals feed on a variety of sea animals, such as fish and octopus. Many seals are slow moving and clumsy on land, yet some species can dive beneath the water, over 2,000 feet deep, and can stay submerged for almost 45 minutes.