Today is a special day -
Seals are mammalian marine animals that have their footprints from the Antarctic to the Arctic, from seawater to freshwater lakes.
Antarctic seals are estimated to account for about 90% of the world's seal population, making it the largest number of seals in the world. The "seals" living in Antarctica include crab-eating seals, elephant seals, Weddell seals, leopard seals, Ross seals, Antarctic fur seals, etc.
6 Antarctic seals/cartographic lemon languages
Antarctic seals have beautiful fur and thick grease to protect them from the cold, so they were hunted on a large scale in the 18th and 19th centuries, which was actually one of the main reasons why people first explored Antarctica.
Harp seal cubs/Image: Wikimedia
Harp seal mother and child/ Image: Wikimedia
Today's Antarctic seals are protected animals and have few natural predators (the only natural enemy is the few killer whales), so they are not very afraid of people. Seals are carnivores and usually eat fish, shrimp or squid. Leopard seals also eat penguins or other seals, and are the most ferocious animal in Antarctica after killer whales.
Leopard Seal/Image: Wikimedia
They live in water most of the time and only come to shore or ice during breeding or sunbathing. Therefore, they have a good breath holding function, and they can stay underwater for more than half an hour without ventilation. They can even sleep in the water, half asleep and half awake to surface to complete the ventilation.
Elephant seals and Antarctic fur seals breed on shore. During the breeding period, male seals need to win mates through war, and female seals need to protect their baby seals after giving birth, so during this period they do not leave their territory to eat, but consume stored fat to live.
Elephant seal/Image: Wikimedia
The remaining four Species of Antarctic Seals are bred on ice. Leopard seals and Ross seals prefer to live alone, while Weddell seals and crab-eating seals prefer to live in groups.
Crab-eating seals that do not eat crabs
(Crabeater Seals)
Crab-eating seals should actually be called "shrimp-eating seals". They have evolved special teeth, eating shrimp with water into their mouths, and then closing their teeth, squeezing out the seawater, and swallowing the remaining small shrimp into their stomachs. Crab-eating seals were once considered by scientists to be the largest mammal on Earth, with estimates that there could be more than 1 million in the Southeast Polar region alone. Because they inhabit mostly ice, studying them is a difficult task, and it is difficult to know the exact number.
Crab-eating seal Photo: Cao Jianxi
The special teeth of the crab-eating seal Picture: Cao Jianxi
Seal diving champion elephant seal
(Elephant Seals)
They can hold their breath for more than 2 hours at a time, and are recorded diving to a depth of 1500 meters, ranking second among all animals (the first is a sperm whale). The reason why they can hold their breath for so long is because they have evolved a unique circulatory system. They have blood that makes up 22 percent of their body weight (compared to just 7 percent in humans). The blood is also thicker than in other animals, with more red blood cells (carrying oxygen) per unit volume.
Elephant seal Photo: Cao Jianxi
A Weddell seal that punches an ice hole with its teeth
(Weddell Seals)
The ice holes they gnaw out with their teeth are mainly used for their breathing during the intermittent period of diving. During the breeding season, male seals spend a lot of time nibbling out and maintaining an ice hole in order to gain favor with the female seal.
Weddell seal Photo: Cao Jianxi
The only leopard seal in the seal world that eats thermostatic animals
(Leopard Seals)
They have sharp teeth and can have large mouths. Because they are opportunistic predators, they are not picky eaters, and in addition to eating thermostatic animals like penguins, birds, and other seals, they also eat cold-blooded animals like shrimp, fish, squid, etc.
Leopard seal Image: Cao Jianxi
Antarctic fur seals that are not seals
(Antarctic Fur Seals)
Why are quotation marks added to the "seal" species listed above? It's because it's mixed up in the SEAL brigade! Although it is called the "Antarctic fur seal", it is actually a type of fur seal. Most seals rely on thick fat to keep warm, with the exception of woolly seals. Their hair also has a waterproof function, avoiding direct contact between the body and seawater when underwater. Compared with other seals, fur seals also have external ears, which is also the difference between seals and fur seals. Krill make up 95% of their food makeup.
Antarctic fur seal Photo: Cao Jianxi
Big-eyed cute Sister Rose seal
(Ross Seals)
Like leopard seals, they are ice-dwelling solitary animals, so it's not easy to study them. The most impressive thing about Ross seals is their disproportionately large eyes, up to 7 centimeters in diameter! Scientists believe this is to help them find food in the dark depths of water.
Ross Seal Photo: Cao Jianxi
Looking at these cute seals,
Did you ever want to give them a big hug?
In recent decades, seal populations have declined dramatically due to indiscriminate hunting and seawater pollution. In order to protect this adorable animal, the Save Seal Foundation decided in 1983 to designate 1 March of each year as International Seal Day.
In 1983, the International Seal Day propaganda poster showed four spotted seals.
The seal was chosen for two reasons: its footprints can be found on the U.S. mainland, Alaska, the Canadian coast, and in Europe and Asia; it is often blamed for declining fishery production, when in fact the real reason for the decline in fishery production is seawater pollution, habitat destruction, and years of overfishing. As a result, spotted seals can be seen as representative of threatened seal species worldwide.
Spotted seal image source network
Spotted seals are also the most representative species of seals in China. Spotted seals, also known as western Pacific spotted seals, are marine mammals that live along the coast of temperate and cold temperate zones, and are the only flippiped species that breed in China. Every winter, spotted seals migrate from the open sea across the Yellow Sea to the Bohai Sea, most of which gather in Liaodong Bay in the Bohai Sea. Due to the minimum temperature of -30 °C in Winter in Liaodong Bay, the sea ice is in pieces and the ice period is long, making it an ideal area for breeding, roosting, breastfeeding and molting of spotted seals.
As the most environmentally sensitive top predator in marine ecosystems, the survival status and quantitative changes of spotted seals are one of the hallmarks of the environmental quality of marine ecosystems.
Spotted seal pups image source network
Before the 1980s, Bohai fishermen had a tradition of hunting spotted seals, and the melting ice season was the peak period for spotted seals, and the pups born in that year were scattered along the coast to feed, and adult spotted seals liked to rest and moult in the secluded and bait-rich waters, so they were easy to be caught. Some fishermen even drive motor boats to farther offshore waters to hunt and shoot adult spotted seals with guns, and these artificial hunting behaviors have directly led to a decrease in the number of spotted seals.
Spotted seal mother and child image source network
In order to change the trend of decreasing the population of spotted seals, China listed spotted seals as national second-level key protected wild animals in 1988, Dalian Spotted Seal National Nature Reserve in the Bohai Sea in 1997, and Yantai Miaodao Island Islands Seal Nature Reserve in 2001.
Although China has established a nature reserve in the spotted seal gathering area, because it is still an open water, it is impossible to stop the influx and spread of pollutants, nor can it prevent ships from navigating. With the increase in coastal sewage discharge in recent years, the deterioration of the water quality of the seal habitat, coupled with the increasing noise pollution caused by passing ships, has seriously damaged the basic conditions for the survival of the seal, so the deterioration of the marine environment is another direct cause of the decline in the number of seals.
Please protect the marine environment
Give spotted seals a clean home
Source: Love Qingdao
Statement: This article has indicated the source of the reprint, if there is any infringement, please contact us to delete! Contact email: [email protected]