Harp_Seal

Harp Seal
Scientific Name: Phoca groenlandica

Description Habitat Food Predators Reproduction Facts

Description

Harp seals grow to be about 6 feet long and they can weigh up to 500 pounds. They are part of a family of animals called pinnipeds. Pinnipeds are related to seals and walruses. Harp seals have several inches of blubber under their skin that helps to keep them warm in the cold Arctic climate. They have short, thick, white fur with black patches, and a black face. They have ears and nostrils that close. Unlike some other seals, the harp seal’s ears do not have an outside flap, but they can hear very well both above and below the water. When they are resting, the seal’s nostrils are closed. Harp seals have pointed teeth and whiskers that are very sensitive to touch. They have front and hind flippers. The hind flippers are wide and have five digits, and are turned backwards to help them swim and slide along the ice. When they are out of the water, harp seals use their front flippers and strong stomach muscles to pull themselves along the ice. Although some other types of seals can walk on their fins, the harp seals can not.

Return to top

Habitat

Harp seals spend most of their lives in the cold, icy waters of the Artic seas. They also spend time on ice floes. Harp seals can be found all along the shores of the North Atlantic Ocean as well as the Arctic Ocean, from Russia to Greenland to Canada. Seals can dive to very great depths, up to 100 fathoms. They can also stay underwater for as long as fifteen minutes without coming up for air.

Return to top

Food

Since harp seals live in the sea, it is not hard to imagine that their main food is fish. They eat small fish such as cod, anchovy, and smelt, as well as crustaceans like shrimp and crab. When they catch shellfish, they crush the shells with the flat teeth at the back of their mouths. They swallow their food in large chunks instead of chewing it.

Return to top

Predators

The polar bear is an enemy of the harp seal. When a seal comes up through a breathing hole in the ice to get some air, a polar bear is often waiting to catch it. The polar bear’s paws are so strong that it usually only takes one smack to kill the seal. Other enemies of the harp seal include the killer whale and people. Hunters especially like the soft white fur of the baby harp seal and have killed great numbers of them by clubbing them to death. Laws have been passed to protect the seals, and now only natives of the Arctic are allowed to hunt them.

Return to top

Reproduction

Seals breed in the spring. The babies are born about a year later, also in the spring. When they are born, the baby seals have pure white fur, which lasts for about two to three weeks. The white fur is not very warm, so the baby seals must stay with their mother until they grow a thicker, darker pelt that will keep them warm in the cold Arctic waters. A mother seal can always find her baby by its scent. The mother seal nurses her babies for about two to three weeks. The mother’s milk has lots of butterfat. This helps the babies grow fast and by the time they are finished nursing, the babies will have grown to a quarter of their adult weight.

Return to top

Other interesting facts

A baby seal is called a pup.
The life span of a harp seal can be from 30 to 35 years.
Harp seals are great divers. An average dive is 100 meters.

Return to top