Seals
Seals can look and sometimes act like chubby water puppies. They are furry and blubbery, and have two flippers and a tail that make them really good at swimming. Their flippers sometimes act like hands to help them move around on land. Even though they are not great at moving around out of water, they do their best anyway!
Four different species of seal are found along the shores of Nova Scotia: grey seals harbour seals, harp seals and hooded seals. The most common species seen are harbour seals and grey seals.
Grey seals are more common in Cape Breton. The grey seal is also sometimes called the Atlantic seal or the horsehead seal because it has a long head like a horse. The females (called cows) can be from five to six feet long and the males (called bulls) can reach sizes greater than seven feet long! Grey seals live not only all around the shores of Nova Scotia, but also in Newfoundland and Labrador and in waters around the United Kingdom, Iceland and Norway.
Locally, harbour seals are most commonly seen off the coast of mainland Nova Scotia. They also live in coastal waters in the Arctic, as well as the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. They have a more rounded head than grey seals. They are a pale tan/grey/brown colour, often with spots or rings, and the juveniles can have dark rings around their eyes. The adults are smaller than grey seals, about 5 feet long.
Behaviour
Seals are marine mammals, so they breathe air just like we do, but they find their food and live most of their lives hunting in the ocean. When they aren’t swimming, they gather on rocks and islands to rest, to sleep, and to raise their very young. They also ‘haul out’ to moult after the pupping season each year.
Most seal species, including Nova Scotia’s seals, are really social animals that appear to hang out and play with each other. Seals communicate by making noises that sound funny to humans; they also make slapping and clapping sounds with their flippers on their bodies as a way of communicating with each other.
- https://www.soundrangers.com/index.cfm/product/52956_836/grey-seal-colony-atmosphere-03.cfm (grey seal colony sounds)
It is important to remember that even though seals look and act friendly, they are really aware of stranger danger and even though you might not want to hurt them, they don’t know that. When you see seals, the best thing to do is to admire them from a distance. Using binoculars is the best way to look at them without bothering them. That way you will get to see them acting normal and being themselves, instead of being worried or angry.
Diet
Seals eat all kinds of fish and are considered one of the top predators in areas where they live. The reason seals eat so much is because they need to keep a layer of blubber on their bodies so they can stay warm while swimming around the cold waters of the Atlantic, especially during the winter. Other than occasional shark predation, the only animals that harm seals in Nova Scotia waters are humans, either by hunting or accidental collisions with boats on the water.
Biomimicry
Seals have an amazing ability to sense and track fish that have swum by, using their whiskers. Unlike dogs and cats, seals do not have to touch the fish with their whiskers. Seals can somehow track the motion of fish and other aquatic animals from trails (actually swirls and small currents) left behind in the water! Biologists have blindfolded and blocked the ears of seals so that they track prey only with their whiskers and remarkably, they are still able to track them almost perfectly!
Some bio-mechanists are trying to understand how seals and their whiskers are able to accomplish this amazing feat. So far they have discovered that seal whiskers are not just a normal cylinder, as people think whiskers are. Bio-engineers want to use the same methods the seals are using with their whiskers, to improve the navigation of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). Check out the following link for more a detailed description: https://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/seal-whiskers-inspire-marine-technology/
Matthew Freeman
