At both poles there are various species of seals. All of them have in common that they are perfectly adapted to live in environments with radically low temperatures.
It is curious that thanks to its physical characteristics this beautiful animal has adapted to its environment in the way it does. Cold and water are elements that other less prepared animals could not withstand. In this article we will refer to the most representative species of the different species of seals.
Thanks to our site you will be able to correctly inform yourself about these species and discover the reason for the adaptation of the polar seal.
Pinnipeds
The Pinnipeds encompass the three different families that we commonly call seals. These families are: Otarids, Phocids and Odobenids. Specimens of the first two families inhabit arctic and antarctic waters.
- The Otariids, or false seals, are distinguished by having an auditory pinna and posterior flippers directed forward. With which they move better by land than the phocids. The so-called wolves, lions and sea bears are the main representatives of this family.
- The Phocids are the seals themselves. They lack an auditory pavilion and the arrangement of their posterior fins is backwards. There are almost 20 species of seal.
- The Odobenidae only consist of one non-extinct species: the walrus. They only live in the arctic zone.
Adaptation to polar waters
Seals are perfectly adapted to the icy polar waters, thanks to the thick layer of fat that wraps their body. This layer, apart from insulating you from the cold, gives them a great buoyancy This gives them extraordinary agility in the sea that they do not have on land, where they are clumsy.
This fatty layer is obtained by consuming some species, about 5 kg of fish every day. For this reason they are not animals that professional fishermen like. In addition, the fact that regular predators of seals, sharks, are being decimated by overfishing, causing a dangerous increase in seal populations.
An excess of individuals of a species is as dangerous as a small number of individuals. Excess causes famine, disease and degeneration of the race. In the scientific world, an alarm has already been raised in the face of this serious problem.
Arctic Seals
Several species of seal live in the Arctic:
- The Arctic fur seal is one of the species present in the arctic zone. The males are much larger than the females. They live in colonies settled on rocky coastlines. Their skin is dark and they have a small head and a peculiar curved mouth.
- The Harpland seal, or Pied Seal, lives on the Arctic sea ice and Greenland ice. The color of his skin is a very light silver, almost white. On the back it has some irregular dark spots. It's a beautiful animal.
- The gray seal is the best known among the public as it is present in most zoos. The male is twice the size of the female. This species is expanding its population. Its color ranges from brown to very dark gray. It is one of the most voracious species in its diet.
Antarctic seals
Some species of seals live in the Antarctic that also live in the Arctic, but there are other species whose distribution is only in the southern latitude of the planet.
- The Leopard Seal is the second largest. There are specimens of 5 meters. It is a very aggressive animal, which even attacks humans. It feeds on penguins, fish and other seals. This species only exists in Antarctica and the southern polar circle. Their only predator is killer whales. It is little studied because it is dangerous to approach them.
- The Antarctic fur seal is a species that was on the verge of extinction in the 19th century, but currently there are more than 4,000,000 of copies and continues its expansion. They are more slender than other species of seals. Apart from the Antarctic area, they are found along the entire coast of the South American continent, in the area bordering the Pacific Ocean.
- The Southern Elephant Seal is the largest and heaviest seal. Males are twice the length of females and quadruple their weight. Being able to reach 6 m. and 4000 kg. The nickname "elephant" is given by its enormous size and by a kind of short trunk that the males display on their face. Its favorite habitat is the southern rocky coastlines.
General morphology of seals
All seals, even the smallest ones, are good-sized animals. Therefore, they are strong and do not have as many predators as other species, since they are fast and resistant.
Their fusiform bodies and the thick layer of fat that protects them from the cold and gives them buoyancy, allow them to be extraordinary swimmers.
In addition, they can hold their breath underwater for many minutes, making them relentless hunters of the fish with which they are sustained.
National Geographic Image
