Seals on the shore are awkward and helpless: they usually lie near the water, from time to time diving into wormwood for prey. In case of danger, they hurry to dive, while moving with visible effort, but falling into the water swim quickly and easily. Seals are capable of diving to great depths and are under water for a long time. The champion of this is the Weddell seal, which can be underwater for 16 minutes, while plunging to a depth of 500 m!
Seals are fed by a variety of aquatic animals – fish, shellfish, large crustaceans. Different species prefer to prey on different prey, for example, the sea leopard – on penguins, the seal-crab for crustaceans, etc.
All kinds of seals multiply once a year. During the race between the males there are skirmishes. Males of seal-hooded seals have an outgrowth on the nose, which is inflated when the animal is excited. Puffing up their noses and loudly roaring the tusks struggle for the attention of females. In sea elephants, the nose is fleshy and looks like a short trunk, the furious males during the clashes not only roar and inflate their noses, but also bite each other, causing serious injuries. Pregnancy of females lasts almost a year. Seals always give birth to only one, but a large and developed cub.
Since on land the seals are clumsy the mother is completely unable to protect her child, in case of danger she tries only to hide with the cub in the polynya, and if he is too small, alone is saved. For this reason, mortality is very high among proteins. The main enemies of seals on earth are polar bears and … people. If bears hunt seals of all ages (they are quite capable of killing an adult), then people traded exclusively with squirrels. After all, their children’s fur has the greatest density and quality.
