Harp Seal Pups: Like Real Life Stuffed Animals

Known for their snowy white coats and stuffed animal-like expressions, harp seal pups are born on packs of ice floating in the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. When they are first-born, harp seals have no blubber and are identified by their mothers by their smell, however, they soon gain weight by nursing on their mother’s high-fat milk. During this time, they will communicate with others via “bawling” and “mumble”. Once pups reach about 80 lbs (36 kg), their mothers will stop nursing them and leave them to fend for themselves; at this point, they go without food for about six weeks, losing half their body weight until they can dive and hunt for themselves. As adults, harp seals will spend most of their time diving and swimming, going down as deep at 1,000 ft (300 m), and staying submerged for up to 15 minutes at a time. Harp seals will live up to 30 years in the wild, growing to be 6.25 ft (1.9 m) long, and weighing up to 400 lbs (180 kg). Due to harp seals being hunted for their pelts and blubber at great numbers, various protection acts have been put in place to protect these charming little creatures.