What fish do seals eat. Eared and real: All about the seals of our planet

Seals - common name marine mammals, uniting representatives of two families: true and eared seals. Rather clumsy on land, they are excellent swimmers underwater. Their traditional habitat is the coastal zones of the southern and northern latitudes. The types of seals that exist in nature are very different, but at the same time, there are many common features in their appearance, habits and lifestyle.

Origin of seals

• sea ​​lion (northern);
• Californian;
• Galapagos;
• Japanese;
• southern;
• Australian;
• New Zealand.

In the waters of Russia, seals of this family are represented by the sea lion and northern fur seal.

Protected seal species

As a result of active human intervention in the life of nature, many species of animals, including seals, are today on the verge of extinction.

So, several varieties of seals are listed in the Red Book of Russia at once. This is a sea lion living in the Kuril and in the Kamchatka region. The spotted seal, or spotted seal, which lives on Far East. The long-faced, or tevyak, is currently considered protected. It is found in the Baltic Sea and on the Murmansk coast. The ringed seal, a valuable Far Eastern commercial seal, was on the verge of extinction.

Contains an entry about a monk seal. conservation status of this species is designated as "lost". This extremely shy animal has a low reproductive potential and does not withstand the close presence of a person at all. Only about ten pairs of monk seals live in the Black Sea, and in the world today their number is no more than five hundred individuals.

harbor seal

The harbor seal is quite widespread along the coasts. northern seas Europe. This species lives relatively sedentary, usually choosing rocky or sandy areas of the coastal zone, islets, shoals and spits in bays and estuaries. Its main food is fish, as well as aquatic invertebrates.

The cubs of these seals are usually born on the shore in May-July, and a few hours after birth they go to the water. They feed on mother's milk for about a month and manage to gain up to thirty kilograms on this nutritious diet. However, due to the fact that a large amount of heavy metals and pesticides due to the fish she eats, many cubs get sick and die.

Despite the fact that this species is not listed in protected areas, like, for example, the spotted seal or ringed seal, it also requires careful attitude to itself, as its numbers are inexorably reduced.

crabeater seal

The Antarctic crabeater seal is considered today the most numerous species of seal in the world. According to various estimates, its number reaches from seven to forty million individuals - this is four times more than the number of all other seals.

The size of adults is up to two and a half meters, they weigh two hundred to three hundred kilograms. Interestingly, the females of this species of seals are somewhat larger than the males. These animals live in the Southern Ocean, drifting near the coast in summer, and migrating north with the onset of autumn.

They feed mainly on krill (small Antarctic crustaceans), this is facilitated by the special structure of their jaws.

The main natural enemies of crabeater seals are sea ​​leopard and killer whale. The first poses a threat mainly to young and inexperienced animals. Seals escape from killer whales by jumping out of the water onto ice floes with incredible dexterity.

Sea leopard

This harbor seal not in vain is the "namesake" of a formidable predator from the cat family. An insidious and ruthless hunter, he is not content only with fish: penguins, skuas, loons and other birds become his victims. Often he attacks even small seals.

The teeth of this animal are small, but very sharp and strong. There are known cases of attacks of sea leopards on humans. Like the "land" leopard, marine predator the same spotted skin: black spots are randomly scattered on a dark gray background.

Along with the killer whale, the sea leopard is considered one of the most important predators of the south polar region. The seal, reaching more than three and a half meters in length and weighing more than four hundred and fifty kilograms, is able to move along the edge of drifting ice with amazing speed. It usually attacks its prey in the water.

The sea leopard is the only seal whose diet is based on warm-blooded creatures.

Harp seal cubs are one of the cutest representatives of the animal world: a large head and huge eyes (like human babies) plus snow-white fur covering the whole body.
The Pomors, who have been fishing in the White Sea for a long time, gave their names to adult and pups of the harp seal, which are still used today. An adult male is called a lysun, an adult female is called an utelga, but seal pups, depending on age, can be called Zelentsy, pups, khokhlushs and serks. AT scientific literature all seal pups are called puppies. This is due to the fact that in scientific classification Harp seals belong to the canine suborder.
Pregnancy in harp seals lasts longer than in humans - 11.5 months, although this period also includes 4.5 months, when the fertilized egg is in "hibernation" and does not develop.
In summer, seals live far in the North - at the edge of the ice of the Barents and Kara Seas, near Svalbard, Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land and Severnaya Zemlya. In late autumn, they begin to move south, and in January - February they appear in the White Sea. For breeding, seals choose strong ice floes, arranging so-called "nursery haulouts" on them, sometimes stretching for tens of kilometers and numbering tens of thousands of individuals. Ice has excellent antiseptic properties, because. low temperatures prevent bacteria from growing. Females give birth to seal pups from late January to late April, with most pups born between February 20 and March 5. The newborn reaches a length of 80-92 cm and a weight of 8-10 kg. The baby seal after birth is covered with thick and long hair, white, with a greenish tint, which is the result of exposure to amniotic fluid in the mother's womb.

green seal:

The cub does not stay like this for long: after 3-5 days the greenish tint disappears, and the cub becomes absolutely white. During this period, it is called Belkom.

white seal:

The female seal feeds the young with milk every few hours. Seal milk is very fatty (the share of fat is up to 50%), due to this, the pup gains up to three kilograms of weight per day.

The pups' eyes are constantly watery, so it seems that they are crying, but this is how their eyes are moistened. Another one salient feature seals - they constantly tremble, this is the regulation of heat in the body of a seal, which, unlike an adult, has not yet formed a thick fat layer. The fur of the pup consists, like that of polar bears, of transparent hollow hairs that let the sun's rays pass directly onto the black skin and warm it.

For a long time it was believed that the mother finds her cubs by voice, but this is not so. The seal, periodically leaving in search of food for herself, then finds her cub by individual smell.

Another misconception: if a man strokes a pup, then his mother will no longer approach him. This is not true. If you are going on an ecotourism expedition, such as a tour to North Pole, then you will be able to iron the seals without fear, but you need to do this with gloves, because. puppies react negatively to the temperature of a human hand that is too high for them. You should never stroke a white seal, blocking the baby from his mother, otherwise the seal, ceasing to see the cub, may rush to the attack.

Hunting for white seals and other harp seal pups was banned in Russia 5 years ago, so walruses are the only danger for seals.

Belek in the third week of life begins to molt, a silvery skin begins to peep under its white fur. Within a week, such a cub is called a khokhlush.

hooded seal:

Approximately one month after birth white fur gradually replaced by a short and coarse coat common to seals gray color, darker on the back, with dark gray or black spots. Such a cub is called a serka.
Females reach puberty at the age of 4-8 years, males - about 8-9 years.

serk seal:

seals - less mobile and graceful creatures, on the shore they resemble large leather bags, slowly and clumsily crawl from place to place, releasing heavy sighs.
It is known that seals spend most of their time in the open sea, even during sleep they do not go out on land. But how do they sleep in the water? It turned out that there are two ways. In the first case, the animal is simply on the surface of the water, flippers spread out, and only occasionally raises its head to take a deep breath. It stays on the water due to the thick layer of subcutaneous fat and the lazy movement of flippers. The second way is more interesting: after falling asleep, the animal slowly sinks to a depth of several meters, after which it begins to emerge and, once on the surface of the water, takes a few breaths, after which everything is repeated from the very beginning. The most amazing thing is that all this time the seal sleeps sweetly and does not open its eyes for a minute.

True seals include seals, harp seals, bearded seals, sea ​​lion and many others. All these animals have some interesting adaptations that help them survive in the harsh northern waters. The crabeater seal has the most unusual teeth, which at first glance look like a comb. The thing is, he eats. small crustaceans, which he collects with the help of his amazing, dental "combs". Having taken more sea water into its mouth, the seal closes its mouth and begins to filter it through the cracks in the crab teeth, while small fish and crustaceans remain inside.
The hooded seal has a very strange thing- a huge red bubble, which he is able to inflate to an incredible size. Females also have nasal bladders, although much less. What this incomprehensible “structure” is intended for is still not clear. There is an opinion that a brightly inflated bag plays some role in the courtship process and attracts females. It is possible that the size and colorfulness of the bubble help the male to gain the upper hand over his rivals.
In addition to hooded seals, elephant seals have the ability to inflate their nose. Of course, it does not reach such dimensions as in the hooded coat, but on the other hand, the swollen trunk of an elephant gives out a low whistling roar, which should frighten all enemies and rivals. live sea ​​giants off the coast of California and South America, with the onset of spring emerge to the north.
Elephants have another inherent feature: like all marine mammals, they are dressed in a warm fur coat made of a thick layer of fat (up to 10 cm), but in this attire there are peculiar "windows" - vents. On the sides of the elephant there are three such formations on each side, under them the skin of the beast heats up to very high temperature, and, drying up, they look like golden spots on the still damp gray skin. With their help, elephant seals regulate body temperature and when hot sunny weather saved from overheating.
In young elephant seals, this mechanism necessary for life in ice does not yet work; they give off heat with their whole body. Sometimes the ice under them is so hot that it begins to melt and the unfortunate animal plunges into the ice "pit". It often happens that seals that have been lying in one place for a long time fall into a trap from which they can no longer get out. The mother is also unable to help her cub. Hundreds of seals die every year in ice captivity.
Another representative of real seals is the sea leopard, which received such a formidable name for a reason, because the predatory nature of the beast is in no way inferior to the aggressive nature of its land namesake. The sea animal is an insidious and ruthless hunter, he grabs and literally tears apart penguins, loons, skuas and other birds, they do not escape from him and more small seals . His teeth are not very large, but sharp and strong, and his character is such that he is not even afraid of a person. Like an ordinary leopard, the sea leopard has spotted skin - black spots are randomly scattered on a dark gray background.

In addition to all those already listed, there are several more seals: absolutely unique creatures live on the Caspian Sea and in Lake Baikal - the Caspian and Baikal seal. Its exclusivity lies in the fact that they live in completely closed reservoirs, in which they seem to have nowhere to take.
There is also a spotted seal, a spotted seal living in the northern waters of Europe, America and Asia. The lionfish, whose skin is decorated with thin white rings, has chosen the spaces of the Bering and Chukchi seas. Lakhtak, or sea ​​hare, swims in the coldest seas, quite already near the pole.
Harp seals-lysun hunt for fish, squid and crustaceans all summer long in the far north of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, in the very ice - in the east they swim in the Kara Sea. In autumn they gather in small flocks and swim south. In December, already thousands of them swarm and crawl on the ice of the White Sea.

At the end of winter, fluffy, white (with a slightly yellowish tinge) cubs are born to seals, hunters usually call them whites. Within a month, the mother feeds them with her milk, then gradually begins to teach them how to fish. And in May, all of them, both small and large, sail north, to the Arctic Ocean.
AT polar ice Svalbard, they will meet with their brothers, wintering near the island of Jan Mayen. So that everyone has enough space and fish, harp seals divided winter quarters among themselves. Some winter near the island of Newfoundland, others - on Jan Mayen, and the third had a taste floating ice in the White Sea. In addition to these three rookeries, harp seals are not found anywhere in winter.

• KEY FACTS
• Name: Gray (long-faced) seal (Halichoerus grypus); spotted seal (Phoca vitulina vitulina) and Baltic ringed seal (Phoca hispida botnica).
• Area: Baltic Sea
• Social group size: True social groups No; most species usually form breeding groups numbering hundreds or thousands of individuals
• Gestation period: 6-11 months (depending on the species), including the latency period
• Number of Cubs: One
• Self-reliance: 2-4 weeks

Pinnipeds live mainly in water, and most of them come to land only during the breeding and molting season. There are about 30 species of these animals in three families of pinnipeds. In this article, we will focus on public behavior pinnipeds from the Phocidae family, called earless or true seals. We will also consider the lifestyle of native species Baltic Sea, including the northern sea ​​Elephant(Mirounga angustirostris).

The social behavior of the elephant seal, whose males fight each other for control of a group of females called a harem, has been extensively studied by zoologists. During the year, elephant seals usually lead a solitary lifestyle and only periodically come out on land or ice in groups. Even the mother does not take proper care of her offspring. She rarely teaches them the skills needed to adult life, feeds newborn cubs with milk for only a few weeks and leaves them to their fate.

A crabeater seal rests on an ice sheet in Antarctica. Representatives of this species feed on plankton, capturing it with an open mouth while swimming and filtering it out. sea ​​water through the teeth.

Seals of the Baltic

In order to give life to future generations, seals must go to land or dense ice, because if a cub is born in the water, it will immediately drown. However, seals leave the water during molting. Having changed their habitat, they gather in groups, and during this period there is no trace of their hermit way of life. If the seals' skin is warm, they will grow new fur. On land, animals move very slowly, so they form massive clusters on land to protect themselves from predators.

All Baltic seals leave the water in spring or early summer and congregate in their traditional breeding grounds in the ice fields. In females that have been well fed during 8-9 months of pregnancy, cubs appear soon after entering the ice. Mothers need a solid supply of fat (i.e., subcutaneous fat), which provides them with vital energy for the time of feeding the cubs, because during this period females rarely manage to eat. Pups of female gray and spotted seals are born on open ice near the recesses that their mothers dig and clean in advance. Unlike them, female ringed seals dig caves over 2 m deep in the snow - so-called. haulouts, which may consist of several compartments.

Northern fur seals spend 6-8 months a year in the open sea and come out to rocky land only in summer, during the breeding season. The picture shows a colony of fur seals in Alaska (USA).

Offspring

Spotted seal pups are larger and generally better developed than other species. They are able to crawl and swim within a few hours after birth. Such early development favorable for a species that spends up to 75% of its life in water.

The gray seal takes less care of its pups than other relatives. The female feeds the babies with milk for only 14-17 days, and then they are left alone with all the dangers of life. Seal milk is very fatty, and during the feeding period, the cubs gain weight up to 2 kg per day. The reserve of subcutaneous fat formed in this way is very necessary for the puppy, because when the mother stops feeding him, he will not be able to eat until he gets to the water.

Usually, after two weeks, hungry puppies begin to master the water element. Babies get food on a whim, they are not helped by relatives, but often young animals follow adults to find good feeding places.

Female spotted seals and ringed seals pay more attention to their babies. The period of feeding the offspring lasts 4 and 6 weeks, respectively, at which time they themselves also sometimes manage to eat. Cubs of both species can swim from the very early age and sometimes accompany their mothers in search of food. This gives the kids the opportunity to learn the basics of a future independent life.

Rival males

Signs of the beginning of a conflict between two seals are menacingly open mouths of males, loud cries and a demonstration of sharp teeth. During a fight, males may bite each other on the neck and front flippers, or pin each other to the ice. During the mating season, male winners can achieve the location of more than ten girlfriends. However, this advantage must first be won. It happens that males successfully defend their territory, only reaching the age of 10.

Male spotted seals have a different strategy. At some point, they gather in areas popular with females and put on a "water acrobatics show" accompanied by underwater sounds. Females give preference to those males whose performance impressed them the most. Marriage rituals ringed seals are not well understood, but males are believed to defend underwater territories where mating takes place.

Coast Pacific Ocean in California (USA). The picture captures the moment of the struggle of two northern elephant seals in mating season. Before the fight, the animals open their mouths wide, bare their teeth and scream loudly.

Males of all species do not eat anything during the mating season and sometimes lose up to 25% of their weight. After the end of the mating season, adult seals - both males and females - leave the ice fields and regain their lost strength within a few weeks. During the rest, they prepare for the upcoming molt, when they will have to get out of the water and exist without food for some more time.

northern elephant seal

Like most pinnipeds, the northern elephant seal comes to land only during periods of molting and breeding. Males arrive at the "marriage territory" in early December and compete for the right to occupy it. The winner will receive the favor of all the females that enter his territory, which is why the males fight so fiercely for the best territory. In battles involving a clearly larger and more dominant male, the weak one usually concedes, and if the strength of the males is equal, the battle lasts until one of them wins. Approaching each other, the males rear up, reaching 2-3 m in height, inflate their trunks and roar loudly. If none of the rivals gives up, the seals make swift attacks: and injure each other with sharp teeth. Most of them have many scars from such battles. Sometimes battles of northern elephant seals: can lead to the death of one of them.

2-3 weeks after the arrival of males, females arrive at the breeding grounds, ready to give birth to babies. They choose sites with best conditions, forming harems. Females bring one cub 6-7 days after arrival and feed it with milk for about 28 days. During this period, the male - the owner of the territory - guards the harem. AT last days feeding males again mate with females.

The hard life of children

For babies, alien females are also a threat. If the puppy loses contact with the mother, he will join another female to feed on her milk. However, most often a foreign female does not allow this. Like other seals, during the mating season, she does not eat anything, and milk is formed due to the supply of subcutaneous fat. The female saves this valuable product only for her baby, because the chances of his survival in the future depend on the reserves of fat that he has time to accumulate during the feeding period. If a strange cub demands milk from a female too persistently, she can expel him or even kill him. The mother who has lost her cub only occasionally shares her milk with orphans, but the cubs she nursed rarely survive.

The dominant male usually takes care of a harem of 40 females. The larger the territory that the females occupy, the more difficult it is for the male to assert his right to them. Fierce competition between males leads to the fact that only a third of them have the opportunity to mate. Almost 90% of the cubs in a large colony are usually fathered by only a few successful males.

Although the lifespan of seals can be over 15 years, the dangers associated with protecting the territory and harem, as well as losing more than a third of the weight during the mating season, mean that males rarely have the strength to participate in breeding for more than 3-4 years. Most males die after two successful mating seasons.

Male swindlers

Other thieving males wait for an opportunity to challenge the dominant male when his strength is running out after actively fighting rivals. Still others, most often underdeveloped, more female-like males, may try to sneak into the harem in the hope that the dominant male will not notice them and try to mate with the females. However, it is undesirable for females to show their favor to such males, since their offspring may be weak. Most often, in such a situation, females scream, attracting the attention of the dominant male, who comes to the rescue and drives the uninvited guest away. Thus, females select only the strongest males as fathers of offspring.

Animal seal found in the seas that flow into the Arctic Ocean, keeps mainly near the coast, but spends most of the time in the water.

It is customary to call seals representatives of groups of eared and true seals. In both cases, the limbs of the animals end in flippers with well-developed large claws. The size of a mammal depends on its belonging to a particular species and subspecies. On average, the length of the body varies from 1 to 6 m, weight - from 100 kg to 3.5 tons.

The elongated body resembles a spindle in shape, the head is small narrowed in front, a thick, motionless neck, the animal has 26-36 teeth.

There are no auricles - instead of them, valves are located on the head that protect the ears from water ingress, the same valves are in the nostrils of mammals. On the muzzle in the nose area there are long mobile whiskers - tactile vibrissae.

When moving on land, the hind flippers are stretched back, they are inflexible and cannot serve as a support. The mass of subcutaneous fat of an adult animal can be 25% of the total body weight.

Depending on the species, the density of the hairline also differs, so, maritime elephants – seals, which practically do not have it, while other species boast coarse fur.

The color also varies from reddish-brown to gray seal, from plain to striped and spotted seal. An interesting fact is that seals can cry, although they do not have lacrimal glands. Some species have a small tail, which plays no role in moving both on land and in water.

The nature and lifestyle of the seal

Seal on the a photo seems to be a clumsy and slow animal, but such an impression can only be formed if it is on land, where movement consists in ridiculous movements of the body from side to side.

spotted seal

If necessary, in water, a mammal can reach speeds of up to 25 km / h. In terms of diving, representatives of some species are also champions - diving depth can be up to 600 m.

In addition, it can stay under water for about 10 minutes without an influx of oxygen, this is due to the fact that there is an air bag on the side under the skin, with which the animal stores oxygen.

Swimming in search of food under huge ice floes, seals deftly find leads in them in order to replenish this stock. In this situation the seal makes a sound, similar to clicking, which is considered to be a kind of echolocation.

Under water, the seal can make other sounds. For example, sea, inflating the nasal bag, produces a sound similar to the roar of an ordinary land elephant. This helps him drive away rivals and enemies.

Representatives of all types of seals spend most of their lives at sea. On land, they are selected only during molting and for reproduction.

It is surprising that animals even sleep in the water, moreover, they can do it in two ways: by turning over on their back, the seal stays on the surface thanks to a thick layer of fat and slow movements of the fins, or, falling asleep, the animal plunges shallowly under the water (a couple of meters), after which it emerges, takes a few breaths and sinks again, repeating these movements throughout the entire period of sleep.

Despite a certain degree of mobility, in both these cases the animal is sound asleep. Newborn individuals spend only the first 2-3 weeks on land, then, still not really able to swim, they descend into the water to start an independent life.

The seal can sleep in the water, turning over on its back

An adult has three spots on the sides, the layer of fat on which is much less than on the rest of the body. With the help of these places, the seal escapes from overheating, giving off excess heat through them.

Young individuals do not yet have this ability. They give off heat with their whole body, therefore, in the case when a young seal lies on the ice for a long time without moving, a large puddle forms under it.

Sometimes this can even lead to death, because when the ice melts deep under the seal, he then cannot get out of there. In this case, even the mother of the baby can not help him. Baikal seals live in closed water bodies, which is not characteristic of any other species.

Seals feeding

The main food for the seal family is fish. The beast has no definite preferences - what kind of fish he meets during the hunt, he will catch that one.

Of course, to maintain such a huge mass, the animal needs to hunt big fish especially if it occurs in in large numbers. During periods when fish schools do not come close to the shores in the size necessary for the seal, the animal can pursue prey, rising up the rivers.

So, relative of the spotted seal at the beginning of summer it feeds on fish descending into the sea along the tributaries of the rivers, then it switches to capelin, which comes to the coast to spawn. Salmon are the next victim every year.

That is, in the warm period, the animal eats plenty of fish, which itself tends to the shore for one reason or another, things are more complicated in the cold season.

Seal relatives need to move away from the coast, keeping close to drifting ice floes and eat pollock, mollusks and. Of course, if any other fish appears in the way of a seal during a hunt, it will not swim past.

Reproduction and life span of a seal

Regardless of the species, seals have offspring only once a year. As a rule, this happens at the end of summer. Mammals gather in huge seal rookeries on the icy surface (the mainland or, more often, a large drifting ice floe).

Each such rookery can number several thousand individuals. Most couples are monogamous, however, the elephant seal (one of the largest seals) is a representative of polygamous relationships.

Mating takes place in January, after which the mother bears 9 - 11 months baby seals. A baby immediately after birth can weigh 20 or even 30 kg with a body length of 1 meter.

baby eared seal

First, the mother feeds the baby with milk, each female has 1 or 2 pairs of nipples. Due breastfeeding, seal pups gain weight very quickly - every day they can become heavier by 4 kg. The fur of babies is very soft and most often white, however white seal acquires its permanent future color in 2-3 weeks.

As soon as the period of feeding with milk passes, that is, after a month after birth (depending on the species, from 5 to 30 days), the babies descend into the water and then take care of food themselves. However, at first they only learn to hunt, so they live from hand to mouth, keeping only on the fat reserve obtained from their mother's milk.

breastfeeding mothers different types behave differently. So, eared mostly keep close to the rookery, and females harp seals, like most other species, move away from the coast for a considerable distance in search of large concentrations of fish.

A young female is ready to procreate at the age of 3 years, males reach sexual maturity only by 6 years. The lifespan of a healthy individual depends on the species and sex. On average, females can reach the age of 35 years, males - 25.