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Natural History

by Scottie Westfall

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Harp seal in North Carolina!

January 20, 2014 by SWestfall3

This guy made a discovery! This is not a gray seal or harbor seal. This is a harp seal, the same species that gives birth on the ice in eastern Canada and the Canadians love to take clubbing.  (Or so I’m told!)

Source.

Harbor seals are not incredibly uncommon in North Carolina, especially during the winter, but that is about as far south as they actually do range in the Western Atlantic. A gray seal was also spotted in North Carolina this past spring.

Both harbor seals and gray seals are gray dappled, almost like bluetick hounds. This seal is black and white pied!

This footage was taken in 2011, when there were four sightings of harp seals in North Carolina.  The reason why the seals were coming so far south still has not been answered.

Many of North Carolina’s coastal rivers have a pretty healthy population of alligators, which means during that winter American alligators were within just a few miles a seal that gives birth on the ice.

Weird North America, eh?

 

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Posted in out of place animals | Tagged harp seal. | 7 Comments

7 Responses

  1. on January 20, 2014 at 8:54 am dogmaps

    Landseer Harp Sea, not a plain bronze one!


  2. on January 20, 2014 at 7:22 pm Ogre Magi

    Would a gator eat a seal?


    • on January 21, 2014 at 7:07 am retrieverman

      I doubt it could catch one. These seals spend their lives being chased by orcas and great whites, and the smartest thing an alligator normally eats is some kind of wading bird…

      Plus, the seal would have to swim up a river. Alligators can stand salt water for a time. I’ve seen photos of a big one swimming the surf in a North Carolina beach, but they aren’t at all adapted to it.


  3. on January 20, 2014 at 10:14 pm Suhail

    Perhaps running away from starving polar bears.


  4. on January 21, 2014 at 6:41 am chervilmeadow

    Around British Isles coastlines we may have more seals than anywhere else – but none quite as attractive as that individual imo.


    • on January 21, 2014 at 7:08 am retrieverman

      Seals are fully protected under US law.

      In Canada, they are still hunted– and not just the seal hunt that everyone knows about.


  5. on January 21, 2014 at 8:12 am chervilmeadow

    It seems even the most primitive animals can learn new hunting techniques: last week I watched film of giant catfish, which had been introduced to Italy from northern Europe, beaching themselves on a sloping river edge to catch feral pigeons just like orcas do after sealions, but, unlike orcas, catfish cannot breathe air of course, so its even more remarkable.
    It seems only the middle sized catfish are able to succeed: little ones too small to grab pigeons and big catfish can’t get close enough.

    The film also showed hooded crows dropping bits of bread as bait for goldfish in a town square pond. It seems some corvids have cognitive ability equal to monkeys.



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