New research shows Weddell seals avoid making extreme dives for prey during midday, allowing the seals to keep diving over and over without having to pause for long. This allows them to spend almost all of their time underwater, foraging under high-light conditions, which is best for visual hunters. (Michelle Shero, ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Seals like this one photographed during the Sea Ice Physics and Ecosystem Experiment (SIPEX-II) in Antarctica, depend on sea ice to survive. They hunt for food, such as fish and krill, under the ice, and use the ice surface for rest and to have their pups. (Photo by Peter Kimball, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
About Elephant seals You may have seen (and heard) elephant seals on a beach: roaring, clumsy and (let’s face it) terrifying as they jostle for mates. These enormous, blubbery marine mammals awkwardly belly-flop around on land, but are elegantly adapted for life in the twilight zone—where they spend 90% of their at-sea time. Two distinct species, the Northern and Southern elephant seal ...
In Antarctica, Weddell seals give birth once a year on the sea ice and nurse their pups for approximately six weeks. Females lose 30-40% of their body mass while pups triple in size. This species is one of the very few in which the females give their pups swimming lessons and is believed to be important for the pup to develop some early foraging skills. (Image credit: Michelle Shero, under ...
Studying How Seals Adapt to Extreme Environments Could Lead to Benefits ...
Could seals also use their whiskers to “feel” the surrounding water patterns to track fish that swim by? In the early 2000s, marine biologists at the University of Rostock in Germany began to explore that theory. They conducted experiments in which they placed a blindfold and earmuffs on a seal.