But do you actually know anything about harp seals? Like that they don't look cute and furry all their life? Well, that's what this super science reporter is here to tell you! (OK, maybe not that super... but you get the drift.)

This article intends to tell you a bit about harp seals, what they eat, their camouflage techniques and why the environmentalists have a bee in their bonnet about them.

Harp seals are named after the harp-shaped black mark on the adult seals' backs. They live in the sea and on ice floes in the North Atlantic and Arctic Sea.

The pups spend hours every day on ice floes waiting for their mothers, and have a white fur. The adults do not spend much time on the ice floes, but will go up onto them to feed their young.

Harp seals migrate during spring up to 2,500 miles. They go to the north to feeding grounds during the summer. In the fall, they head south again. The southern most part of their journey can be as far south as New Jersey.

Harp seals are carnivores that eat crustaceans and small fish. They need to eat large amounts of food, because they live up north. They need blubber to stay warm in the frigid waters of the north Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean. They usually eat polar cod. They can eat in one day about as much as a fisherman can catch. They usually eat the meat in chunks, without chewing. They break open crustacean shells, but knocking them against their teeth. The pups build up their blubber by drinking their mother's rich milk. An average adult can weigh up to 400 pounds and be 6 feet long.

Both adult and pup harp seals have camouflage. Adult seals are a dappled grey or blue. They have a darker spot on their back that looks like, a harp. This is how they got their name. Under water, it is harder to see them. They look like a wave or like part of the water. This allows them to swim without fear of being attacked by sharks or orcas. This camouflage only protects them in the ocean. Once on the ice floes, they stick out, leaving the man easy target for polar bears. This is why adult harp spend most of their time in the water.

The pup harp seals don't look anything like their adult counterparts. They have a white wooly coat. This coat falls off in a couple weeks. A yellowish white coat replaces it for a few more weeks. This coat also soon molts off. A slightly darker, sliver coat without spots replaces it. After about 14 months, the seal has gained the spots of an adult seal. However, while it is still in a white or yellowish coat, the seal is camouflaged against the white ice floes.

This is before the harp seal is required to fend for itself. It is still getting milk and growing its blubber. It doesn't swim, because the water is too cold. If by chance the seal falls in the water, it will freeze unless the mother pushes it back up. As the pup has to stay on the ice floe, it needs to stay invisible to predators such as polar bears and fur hunters. The white coat helps it blend into its white surroundings.

What's all the fuss about saving them, you ask? Well, harp seals are sometimes hunted over hunted for their fur as pups. This fur is very valuable. Many countries had to have a limit on the number of seals that could be hunted per year. They counted how many seals there were and by how much the seal numbers increased. Then, they determined how many seals could die without hurting the ecosystem. Baby harp seals became the cover animal for all environmental groups, because their plight was so horrible. And 'cause they're so darn cute.

So that's what the big deal is about harp seals. Does your head hurt yet? It doesn't? Darn! Well, if your head doesn't hurt, take a look at the websites that I used to get this info for even more interesting tidbits about the harp seal.

 

Sources:

http://www.pinnipeds.org/species/harp.htm
http://www.nature.ca/notebooks/english/harpseal.htm
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/mammals/pinniped/Harpsealprintout.shtml
http://www.cresli.org/cresli/seals/harpseal.html
http://otn.uoregon.edu/holmans/HarpSeal/PageyZwei
March 2004 issue of National Geographic, "Harp Seals: the Hunt for Balance" by Kennedy Warne