nr.556
A Weddell Seal is ......3 meters of Seal!
Circumpolar on pack ice and shelf ice.
Length: Male 3 Meters
Weight: 400 kg
Female 3+ Meters
Weddell seals are fat animals, not streamlined like crabeters and leopard
seals. Females are slightly larger. Weddell seals have a circumpolar distribution,
living farther south than any other mammal. Fast ice shelf ice is their
main home year round, but species has been recorded in pack ice.
Pups are born in colonies in September and October, on fast ice near
cracks and holes that allow their mothers access to water. Excessive tooth
wear occurs as animals use their incisors and canines to scrape away at
the ice to keep their breathing holes open. Weddells are the best studied
of the four Antarctic seals, because they can be more easily approached
over fast ice then can the pack ice species. Studies have shown that Weddells
can dive to 60 meters and stay under water for over an hour. Their diet
consists of fish, squid and crustaceans. |