Harp seal

Harp seal ( Pagophilus groenlandicus )

The harp seal ( Pagophilus groenlandicus, Phoca groenlandica Syn ) is a common seal in the Arctic from the family of true seals.

Features

The males of the harp seal have a particularly characteristic color. They are silver-gray, have a black head and a black horseshoe-shaped marking that extends from the shoulders on both sides. Since this is similar to the shape of a harp seal bears this in English the name "harp seal". Females are similar, but much paler markings that sometimes dissolve into a spot drawing. Harp seals are 170 to 180 cm long and weigh 120 to 140 kg.

Habitat

Harp seals are common in the Arctic Ocean. There are three separate populations:

• On the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland, as well as in the St. Lawrence Gulf, outside the breeding season also to all the Atlantic coasts of Canada and Greenland
• North of Jan Mayen in the Greenland Sea, outside the breeding season along the coasts of Svalbard and East Greenland
• In the White Sea, outside the breeding season in the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea

They bring their boys in Treibeisregionen to the world and also live on the edge of the pack ice.

Way of life

Prey mostly fish and crabs. They dive to depths of 200 meters to find their prey.

During the breeding season in January and February, the seals migrate onto the ice to give birth to their offspring into the world. Here they gather in loose colonies of tens of thousands of animals. In the pack ice they hold about 90 cm wide open spiracles, which share up to 40 animals. The females of the true distance each about two feet from each other. Males are fighting tooth and their fins with one another for the females. The harp seals are monogamous, mating occurs on the ice. The young are weaned after birth up to 12 days with extremely fat milk, so they set almost two kilograms of weight daily. The young animals ( "White Coats " ) do not have thick fat pad their heat regulation is carried out by a persistent tremor. The white fur is similar to polar bears, made ​​of transparent hollow hairs which direct the sun's heat directly to the black skin and heat them. After weaning, the young remain for about another 10 days alone on the ice until the white cub hair falls out and is replaced by the characteristic silver -gray color with black markings.

The females are inseminated by the same male after giving birth again. The gestation period is equal to about 11.5 months, this included a 4.5 months long dormancy in the embryo does not develop.

Threat and protection

Originally there should have been a global population of nine million harp seals; thus the harp seal after the crab -eater would have been the richest individual- seal in the world. While she has always been hunted by the Inuit and other peoples of the Arctic region, the commercial seal hunting by Europeans began in the 16th century, and in the 19th century took up this proportions who had a severe impact on the overall population.

The White Coats of harp seals were hunted to hundreds of thousands for their fur and killed with clubs. Especially in Newfoundland was often almost all of the offspring of a year killed, the population threatened with extinction. Through international protests, notably the use of the IFAW ( International Fund for Animal Welfare ), the market for seal pelts collapsed, the commercial hunting of the pup has been largely prohibited by international pressure from the Canadian government. Under strict rules, however, up to 325,000 seals of Canadian seal hunters are still officially killed annually, on the grounds that the seals endangered fish stocks. This is no longer the young animals, the animals may be hunted only after the change of coat since 1987. In order not to take the seal hunters of their livelihoods, IFAW organized shortly after setting the seal hunt nature trips to seal colonies, "Seal Watch" is today one among nature lovers and photographers very popular holiday pleasure.

The ongoing seal hunt in Canada is an annual target of protests by animal rights activists. But also Norway and Russia continue to allow hunting of harp seals. After personal intervention of Vladimir Putin, however, only adult animals can be hunted in Russia in the future.