Latest Pinniped Stories
Brett Smith for RedOrbit.com Researchers at the University of California - Santa Cruz (UCSC) have used tracking devices to learn more about previously unknown behaviors of Northern elephant seals. Their study, published May 15 in the journal PLoS ONE, used satellite tracking devices to follow the migratory, breeding, and predatory behaviors of the Pacific dwelling mammals. The information gathered by the researchers showed almost 300 seals traveling throughout the northeast Pacific...
Researchers from Russia and the US want to estimate the number of seals in the Bering Sea region to learn what types of seals are in the region and how they are affected as sea ice, which some species depend on, shrinks due to climate change in the region. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is considering listing one or more species as threatened, writes Dan Joling of the Associated Press (AP). The agency is specifically reviewing the ribbon seal, and will also...
The grey seals in the Baltic Sea compete for fish with the fishing industry. The seals locally eat about the same quantities of cod, common whitefish, salmon, sea trout and eel as those taken by fishermen. This is the conclusion from research carried out at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Competing with the fishing industry The grey seals in the Baltic Sea eat largely the same species and the same sizes of fish as those taken by the fishing industry. So even if the amount of fish...
Food Lion associates and customers raised a record $4.5 million Raleigh, NC (PRWEB) March 23, 2012 Food Lion associates and customers raised a record $4.5 million during their annual Shop&Care for Easter Seals, representing a 22 percent increase over last year. The grocer set a goal this year of $4 million for Easter Seals. Since Food Lion first initiated the Shop&Care program 21 years ago, the company has raised more than $33 million for Easter Seals. “We are pleased that our...
The Center's “Leave Seals Be” campaign urges beachgoers to report sick and injured seal pups to rescuers. Sausalito, CA (PRWEB) March 15, 2012 The arrival of the pupping season’s first harbor seal patient, nicknamed Theros, is a reminder to Leave Seals Be so they have a second chance at life. Leave Seals Be is The Marine Mammal Center’s public education campaign to remind people along the California coast not to pick up or disturb harbor or elephant seal pups they spot on the...
On February 12, Fresno Chaffee Zoo’s Harbor Seal Buck, received surgery on both eyes to remove cataracts that had rendered him blind. Fresno, CA (PRWEB) March 15, 2012 Over the last several years Buck has had bilateral severe cataracts in both eyes, a common complication of old age with pinnipeds. Last year one of the cataracts started to shift in one of his eyes. At this time, Fresno Chaffee Zoo Veterinarian, Dr. Lewis Wright decided to have the cataracts...
Global warming is having an effect on the dive behavior and search for food of southern elephant seals. Researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association cooperating in a joint study with biologists and oceanographers from the Universities of Pretoria and Cape Town have discovered that the seals dive deeper for food when in warmer water. The scientists attribute this behavior to the migration of prey to greater depths and now wish to...
A new study suggests that the impact of predation on juvenile Steller sea lions in the Gulf of Alaska has been significantly underestimated, creating a “productivity pit” from which their population will have difficulty recovering without a reduction of predators. Scientists using “life history transmitters” to study Steller sea lions found evidence of age-structured predation by orcas (killer whales) and other large predators in Alaska’s Prince William Sound and adjacent areas,...
Warming in the North Atlantic Ocean has lead to "significantly reduced" sea ice levels in the breeding grounds of harp seals over the past three decades, Duke University researchers have discovered. Harp seals, which according to BBC News Environment Correspondent Richard Black are "doe-eyed animals" that are "the prime target for Canada's annual seal hunt," have experienced an approximately 6% per decade decrease over the past 30-plus years, the scientists have claimed. "The kind of...
HOUSTON, Dec. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Flame Seal Products, Inc. (Pink Sheets: FLMP) releases the following: Flame Seal Products, Inc., which took control of marketing FLAME SEAL-TB, its Thermal Barrier coating for the Spray Foam Insulation Industry in August of this year, has seen exponential sales growth as a result of that effort, as well as from its ongoing marketing program in the Fire Retardant Leather market. Sales figures that have been monitored on a monthly basis from...
Latest Pinniped Reference Libraries
The harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus), also known as the saddleback seal, is a true seal in the Phocidae family. It is native to northern areas of the Atlantic Ocean and to some areas of the Arctic Ocean. Its scientific name means "ice-lover from Greenland,” and it was previously classified within Phoca genus, although studies have shown that it is unique enough to be in a distinct genus. It holds two recognized subspecies, P. groenlandicus groenlandicus and P. groenlandicus oceanicus....
The ringed seal (Pusa hispida), also known as the jar seal, is a true seal in the Phocidae family. Locally, it is known as nattiq or netsik in the Inuit language. It can be found in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions, with a range that includes the Bering and Oshtok Seas, the Arctic Ocean, and the coastlines of Japan in the north Pacific. It also occurs in the North Atlantic on the coastlines of Scandinavia, Greenland, and Newfoundland. Within its range, the ringed seal prefers areas with ice...
The Caspian seal (Pusa caspica) is one of the smallest species in the true seal family that is native only to the Caspian Sea. It can be seen on shorelines, rocky islands, and ice blocks that occur throughout the sea. In warmer months, these seals will inhabit northern areas of this range, but in colder months, they inhabit cooler waters and the mouths of the Ural and Volga rivers. It is thought that these seals only occur in the Caspian Sea because they moved there during the Quaternary...
The common seal (Phoca vitulina), also known as the harbor seal or harbour seal, is a true seal in the Phocidae family. It can be found in the northern Pacific, Atlantic, Baltic, and North Seas along the coastlines in these areas. This species holds five recognized subspecies, although the Western Atlantic common seal subspecies is questionably classified. The common seal can reach an average length of up to 6.1 feet and a weight between 120 and 370 pounds. The fur can vary in color from...
The spotted seal (Phoca largha or Phoca vitulina largha), also known as the largha seal or simply the largha, is a “true seal” in the family Phocidae. It is native to northern areas of the Pacific Ocean and neighboring seas, preferring to reside on sea ice. Its range includes the continental shelf of the Okhotsk and Bering Seas, Chukchi, and Beaufort. Its southern range extends to the Yellow Sea. When it migrates, it can be found in the Sea of Japan and northern Huanghai. During the...
