Open your worlds
Your wish list — the plush you mean to keep.
Press Add to a collection on any plush in the shop: start a collection of your own, or keep it on your wish list. Sign in and both follow you to any device.
Open my wish list →Menu
Wonders of the harbour seal
The harbour seal, also called the common seal (Phoca vitulina)
↑ All about sealsWhat makes a harbour seal a harbour seal
The harbour seal is a true seal. Here are three things worth knowing about it.
Not so common after all
Its other name is the common seal. But despite that name, it is actually less common than the grey seal.
SourceSpots and a V-shaped nose
Its coat can be any colour from blonde to black, but it is usually grey with dark spots. Its nostrils make a V shape.
SourceA long way up river
Harbour seals have been known to swim up rivers. Some have even been spotted more than 160 kilometres upstream.
Source
A harbour seal pup beside its mother at the water's edge
Born by the sea
A pup that is ready for the water
Most harbour seal pups are born on rocky ledges or beaches that the tide floods every day. Before it is born, a pup usually sheds a grey-white woolly coat, so most pups arrive already wearing their adult coat. Straight after birth a pup may be very lively. It can move about on shore and swim for short periods. Its mother stays close beside it and leads it in and out of the water. She looks after her pup for about 3 to 4 weeks, and the pup gains around 0.5 to 0.6 kilograms a day. Pups sometimes dive with their mothers, but their dives are shorter and much shallower.
SourceLand and sea
How a harbour seal gets about
Harbour seals rest on rocks, reefs, beaches and even drifting ice. They come out of the water to control their body temperature, to moult, to meet other seals, to give birth and to feed their pups. Resting in a group helps keep them safe from predators. A harbour seal's hip bones are joined together, so it cannot bring its back flippers under its body to walk on land like a sea lion. Instead, it moves along like a caterpillar. If you see a seal doing this, it does not mean it is hurt. Back in the water, harbour seals can even sleep underwater, coming up for air once every 30 minutes.
SourceThe pictures on this page are AI-generated illustrations. The facts are checked against the sources linked.