All seals, along with walruses and sea lions, are known as what is called “pinnieds” which are carnivorous, subaquatic mammals that have flippers. Most seals are commonly found in cold climates such as the Arctic and Antarctic and are able to handle the cold with their blubber and very thick fur. The amount of blubber a type of seal has depends on the temperature of their location. Seals are very adept at swimming and will usually come to land in order to mate, give birth, feed, and moult.
While sea lions and fur seals can also be referred to as eared or walking seals, they are more closely related to the sea lion family than the true seal family. Unlike sea lions, true seals do not have external ears and can only travel on land by galumphing. Despite traversing the land very clumsily, seals are very graceful swimmers.
A seal’s diet mainly consists of fish, but they will also eat different types of shellfish, squid, and octopus. The leopard seal is an exception to this, as they eat penguins and other seals as well. The main predators of seals are killer whales, sharks, polar bears, arctic wolves, and other seals. However, some seals such as the elephant seal are so large that they do not have any natural predators. Humans also pose a large threat to seal populations due to global warming, oil spills, and poaching.
Trivia
- A group of seals on land can be called a pod or bob, but the most commonly used term is colony. In the water, a group of seals is called a raft.
- Baby elephant seals are called “weaners”. Babies who drink milk from multiple mothers and grow larger in size are dubbed “super weaners”.
- When seals travel on land, it is referred to as galumphing.
- A seal mother’s milk contains about 50% fat, which explains how baby seals can grow so fast!
- Gisborne, New Zealand is home to the infamous elephant seal, Homer, who was known to attack parked cars and even destroyed a restaurant’s power supply box.
References
sealcity.home.blog 