{"id":80,"date":"2019-03-12T23:10:32","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T23:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.forsea.org\/n3-harborseal\/"},"modified":"2020-12-08T20:48:24","modified_gmt":"2020-12-08T20:48:24","slug":"n3-harborseal","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.forsea.org\/n3-harborseal\/","title":{"rendered":"Harbor Seals"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

by Samantha Ainsley
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

Harbor
\nSeals<\/font><\/p>\n

Habitat<\/b>

\nAlong the coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the harbor seal can
\nbe found. Harbor seals range from Alaska to Mexico on the coast of the Pacific
\nOcean. And on the coast of the Atlantic, the shores of eastern Canada and
\nNew England are home to many harbor seals. The harbor seal or Phoca vitulina,
\nmeaning sea calf’ or “sea dog”, can also be found in Washington
\nState’s inland seas, mainly in Puget Sound and along the shores of the San
\nJuan Islands.<\/font><\/p>\n

Description

\n<\/b><\/font>Harbor seals have
\noval-shaped bodies with a large back flipper, smaller side flippers, and
\ndog-like faces. Their spotted coats come in many different colors that range
\nfrom silver, bluegray, tan, to brown and black. Male harbor seals are slightly
\nlarger than the females. While the average male can grow from five to six
\nfeet in length, and weigh 200-300 pounds, the females grow to four and a
\nhalf to five feet in length and weigh 150-200 pounds. Most harbor seals
\nlive to at least twenty-five years of age.<\/font><\/p>\n

Giving Birth <\/b>

\nHarbor seals in eastern Puget Sound and the shores of the San Juan Islands
\ngive birth from mid June through August, and in southern Puget Sound from
\nJuly through September.<\/font><\/p>\n

Pups<\/b>

\n<\/font>Seal pups weigh anywhere
\nbetween twelve and twenty pounds, and measure about two and a half feet
\nin length. Harbor Seal pups feed off of milk for the first three to six
\nweeks until they are weaned and able to care for themselves. Unlike most
\nseals, harbor seal pups can swim, but they will ride on their mother’s back
\nif they get tired. Mother seals are very protective of their young and will
\nhide or carry them to protect them.<\/font><\/p>\n

Diet<\/b>

\n<\/font>Harbor seals rely on the
\nfood source that is close to them. Depending on where they live, they are
\nknown to eat sole, flounder, sculpin, hake, cod, herring, octopus, and squid.<\/font><\/p>\n

Harbor Seal Behavior<\/b>

\n<\/font>Harbor seals spend their
\ntime both on land and in the sea, about 50\/50. They use their powerful back
\nflipper not only for swimming, but also for moving on land. To move on land,
\nharbor seals push with their back flippers and flop along on their bellies.<\/font><\/p>\n

The average harbor seal can
\ndive to 1,500 feet (457 m) for up to forty minutes. However, most harbor
\nseals stay under water, on average, for about three to seven minutes in
\na very shallow depth. Harbor seals can swim as fast as fifteen knots.<\/font><\/p>\n

Harbor seals like to “haul
\nout” to bask in the sun and sleep. This takes place on beaches, spits,
\nbars, rocks, and log rafts. They also haul out to digest food, rest, nurse
\ntheir pups, or give birth.<\/font><\/p>\n

While they are hauled out, harbor
\nseals often raise the head and hind flippers and lie in a “banana-like”
\nposition. When they are resting in the water, harbor seals will lie in what
\nis known as the ‘bottling” position. In this position, they tilt their
\nhead straight back and float on the surface (looking like a floating bottle).<\/font><\/p>\n

The Harbor Seals of Puget
\nSound

\n<\/b><\/font>In 1997, there were
\nabout 16,000 harbor seals living in Washington State. The population of
\nharbor seals in Puget Sound has been increasing since the 1970’s. Nearly
\none half of the population lives in the waters off the San Juan Islands.<\/font><\/p>\n

One of the reasons there has
\nbeen such a dramatic increase in the population is the Marine Mammal Protection
\nAct of 1972. This law protects harbor seals from bounties that were put
\non the seals because it was believed that they were eating too much commercial
\nfish. It is now illegal to hunt, capture, kill, harass or in any way disturb
\nseals or any other marine mammal.<\/font><\/p>\n

Many other reasons harbor
\nseals have been so successful in Puget Sound is the abundance of food (hake,
\nherring, etc.) and puping sites. However, due human disturbance, there is
\na reduction of harbor seals in some areas.<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Samantha Ainsley Harbor Seals Habitat Along the coasts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9080,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template_8.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.forsea.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/80"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.forsea.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.forsea.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.forsea.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.forsea.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.forsea.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/80\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9095,"href":"http:\/\/www.forsea.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/80\/revisions\/9095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.forsea.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.forsea.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}