Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1228x546, 138 KB) Phoca groenlandica, Fabricius. ... The conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. ... Image File history File links Status_iucn2. ... Least Concern (LC) is an IUCN category assigned to extant species or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. ... For other uses, see Animal (disambiguation). ... Typical Classes See below Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates. ... Subclasses & Infraclasses Subclass †Allotheria* Subclass Prototheria Subclass Theria Infraclass †Trituberculata Infraclass Metatheria Infraclass Eutheria Mammals (class Mammalia) are warm-blooded, vertebrate animals characterized by the production of milk in female mammary glands and by the presence of: hair, three middle ear bones used in hearing, and a neocortex region in... Families 17, See classification The diverse order Carnivora (IPA: or ; from Latin carō (stem carn-) flesh, + vorāre to devour) includes over 260 species of placental mammals. ... Genera Monachus (Monk Seals) Mirounga (Elephant Seal) Lobodon (Crabeater Seals) Leptonychotes Hydrurga (Leopard Seals) Ommatophoca Erignathus (Bearded Seals) Phoca Halichoerus (Gray Seals) Cystophora (Hooded Seals) The true seals or earless seals are one of the three main groups of mammals within the seal suborder, Pinnipedia. ... Species Phoca caspica(Caspian Seal) Phoca fasciata(Ribbon Seal) Phoca groenlandica(Harp Seal) Phoca hispida(Ringed Seal) Phoca largha(Spotted Seal) Phoca sibirica(Nerpaor Baikal Seal) Phoca vitulina(Common Seal) Phoca is a genus of the earless seals, within the Family Phocidae. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben Institute of Veterinary Medicine of Georg-August-University Goettingen from 1771-1775, first and oldest academic Veterinary School in Germany Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben (June 22, 1744 - August 19, 1777) was a German naturalist. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1357x628, 29 KB) Sattelrobbe (Phoca groenlandica) Quelle: Selber gemacht (Jonathan Hornung) Lizenz: File links The following pages link to this file: Harp Seal ...

Features

Harp seals resemble harbor seals in body and head form, but are larger: adult Harp Seals grow to 1.7 m (5.6 ft) long and can weigh over 130 kg (290 lb). The baby Harp seals are all white, which helps them blend in with the snow. Adults are grey or white with black markings on their back and on their head. Polar Bears, sharks, Orcas, and in some areas Walruses are natural predators of Harp Seals. Inuits living in the region hunt them mainly for sport and to a lesser extent, commercial reasons. They are often given different names according to their age : Binomial name Phoca vitulina Linnaeus, 1758 The Harbor Seal or Common seal (Phoca vitulina) is a true seal of the Northern Hemisphere. ... This article is about a foot as a unit of length. ... The pound or pound-mass (abbreviations: lb, lbm, or sometimes in the United States, #) is a unit of mass (sometimes called weight in everyday parlance) in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... Orders Carcharhiniformes Heterodontiformes Hexanchiformes Lamniformes Orectolobiformes Pristiophoriformes Squaliformes Squatiniformes † Symmoriida Sharks (superorder Selachimorpha) are fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton [1] and a streamlined body. ... Binomial name Orcinus orca Linnaeus, 1758 Orca range (in blue) The Orca or Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) is the largest species of the oceanic dolphin family (Delphinidae). ... Binomial name (Linnaeus, 1758) Distribution of Walrus Subspecies Walruses (Odobenus rosmarus) are large semi-aquatic mammals that live in the cold Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. ... For other uses, see Inuit (disambiguation). ...

• “Whitecoats” : Birth
• “Ragged Jackets” : 2-4 weeks
• “Beaters” : 4 weeks to 1 year
• “Bedlamers” : 1 to 4 years
• “Spotted Harp” : 4 to 7 years
• “Dark Harp” : mature/adult

Pup suckling on mothers milk Whitecoat is the name of new-born harp or grey seal with soft, white fur. ... Picture shows a ragged-jacket on a flake of ice, in a early stage of molting. ...

Population

Harp Seal separates into three populations according to their breeding locations: the White Sea, the West Ice and Northwest Atlantic. Seals breeding in the Northwest Atlantic near Newfoundland, Canada represent the largest population and are genetically different from seals breeding in the two other places, which have not been proven genetically different from each other. All three populations are hunted commercially, mainly by Canada, Norway, Russia and Greenland For other uses, see Newfoundland (disambiguation). ...

The Northwest population

There are no reliable estimates of the size of Northwest Atlantic population when commercial hunting began in the early 1800s.Several simulation models estimated virginal populations to be in the 3 to 4 million range.It is considered that the population recovered to about 3 million at the end of World War II, but subsequently declined by 50–66% between 1950 and 1970 due to commercial hunting in Canada. Quotas and other conservation measures since then have enabled the population to nearly triple in size to 5.2 million according to a peer-reviewed survey in 1999. This article is about the year. ...

White Sea and west ice populations

Distribution of the West Ice population in the area between Jan Mayen and East Greenland.

Mature females usually give birth to one pup in March/April each year. The pups are born within well defined areas in the drift ice in the White Sea or in the area between Jan Mayen and East Greenland (the West Ice population). The Harp Seal is migrating searching for food over large areas in the Barents Sea, the Norwegian Sea, the Greenland Sea and the Denmark Strait. Age of maturation is 4–8 years, normal life length more than 30 years. An adult animal is about 1.9 m long with a weight around 200 kg. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1000x913, 512 KB) A map showing the location of the Norwegian Sea in the North Atlantic Ocean. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1000x913, 512 KB) A map showing the location of the Norwegian Sea in the North Atlantic Ocean. ... Location of the Barents Sea. ... The Norwegian Sea (Norwegian: Norskehavet) is part of the North Atlantic Ocean northwest of Norway, located between the North Sea (i. ... The Greenland Sea exists next to the Norwegian Sea. ... The Denmark Strait is a strait between Greenland and Iceland. ...

The population size was in 2000 estimated to more than 300,000 animals in the White Sea and 361,000 animals in the West Ice.

The annual prey consumption was in 2000 estimated to about 3.5 million tonnes in the White Sea area (Nilssen et al 2000).

Seal hunting

Main article: seal hunting

In Canada, the season for the commercial hunt of harp seal is from November 15 to May 15. The majority of sealing, however, occurs in late March in The Gulf of St. Lawrence, and during the first or second week of April off Newfoundland, in an area known as "The Front". This peak spring period is generally what is referred to as the "Canadian Seal Hunt". In 2006, the St. Lawrence seal hunt officially started on March 25. This date was initially uncertain, due to thin ice conditions caused by the year's milder temperatures. ...

In 2003, the three-year harp seal quota granted by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans was increased to a maximum of 975,000 animals, with a maximum of 350,000 animals in any two consecutive years. In 2006, 325,000 harp seals, as well as 10,000 hooded seals and 10,400 grey seals will be killed. An additional 10,000 animals are allocated for hunting by Aboriginal peoples.

The Canadian seal hunt is monitored by the Canadian government. However, although approximately 70% of Canadian seals killed are killed on "The Front", the vast majority of private monitors focus on the St. Lawrence hunt, due to its more convenient location.

The 2006 St. Lawrence leg of the hunt was officially closed on April 3, 2006. Sealers had exceeded the quota by 1,000 animals by the time the hunt was closed.

Dispite being on the endangered species list, harp seals are quite tasty. Thankfully genetic engineering had led to a surplus of harp seals, and they now playfully frolic along the surf of the Northern coasts. Because of the booming population, all citizens are encouraged to help control their numbers. Because of their ferociousness, please aim for the head.

Diet

Harp Seals eat a wide variety of fish and other sea creatures, and their diet seems to vary during different stages of life. Since reporting of the stomach contents of killed seals began in 1941, at least 67 species of fish and 70 species of invertebrates have been found to be part of the Harp Seal's diet. After the Canadian cod collapse many French fishermen and politicians blamed Harp Seals for the destruction and hindering the recovery of the North-West Atlantic Cod population. Although cod is a major contribution to Harp Seals diets, most of the cod is Arctic Cod and not the commercial Atlantic. The ratio is about 36:10 although the total tonnage of cod is around 200,000 tonnes. Although the effect of record population levels of harp seals on the recovery of the Atlantic cod stocks has been disputed, the accumulated evidence is such that most scientists now accept that cod populations are now in a seal predator trap. It is widely accepted that harp seals did not cause the collapse. However, a strong case can be made that both harp and hooded seals contributed to that collapse, as did other factors such as environmental change and marine community shifts. The issue with most regarding the cod stocks is that if the hunting were to stop, the population would grow and therefore cause total prey consumption to increase. Even with heavy hunting, from 1990 to 1999 there was a 800,000-tonne (32%) increase in fish consumption by seals. If the hunt were to stop, the belief is that the population would sky-rocket and within a few years more than likely double the consumption rate. The Harp Seal is at the top of its food chain and has few natural predators to keep its population at bay. For more information, review Northwest Atlantic Harp Seals Stock Status Report 2000 from the Canadian Government. For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... The Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua, is a well-known food fish belonging to the family Gadidae. ...

Breeding

Each year, mature females (5-6 years old) give birth to a single pup, typically in late February. Pups weigh approximately 10 kg and are 80–85 cm long. Immediately after giving birth, the mother smells her offspring, and from that point on will only ever feed her own pup, whose scent she remembers. Harp Seal milk contains up to 50% fat, so pups gain over 2 kg per day when nursing, which lasts roughly 12 days. During this time the mother does not eat, and will lose up to 3 kg per day of body weight. Weaning is abrupt; the mother simply leaves and never comes back. The stranded pup will cry at first, and then become very sedentary to conserve body fat.

Pups are unable to swim or find food until they are about 25 days old, leaving them very vulnerable to Polar Bears and humans during this time. Due in part to the period of helplessness as infants, and to the long time it takes them to become proficient swimmers, as many as 30% of pups fail to survive their first year. Also, although it is not legal to catch seals using nets, thousands of seals are inadvertently killed in commercial fishing nets every year. Binomial name Phipps, 1774 Polar bear range Synonyms Ursus eogroenlandicus Ursus groenlandicus Ursus jenaensis Ursus labradorensis Ursus marinus Ursus polaris Ursus spitzbergensis Ursus ungavensis Thalarctos maritimus The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is a bear native to the Arctic. ... This article is about modern humans. ... Fishing industry is the commercial activity of fishing and producing fish and other seafood products. ...

As mother Harp Seals wean their young, mature males (6–7 years old) roam around breeding with the females promiscuously. Courtship begins on the ice; however the actual mating takes place in the water. Harp Seals have delayed implantation, meaning the fertilized egg becomes an embryo, but does not implant in the uterus right away. The embryo will float around for about three and a half months before implanting and beginning to grow. This allows all the females to give birth within a very small time window each year, when the ice pack is available for giving birth and raising their young. Promiscuity is the practice of making relatively unselective, casual and indiscriminate choices. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Vagrancy

Harp Seal is occasionally found as a vagrant south of its normal range. In Britain, one was recorded in the Shetland Islands in 1987; this was possible only the fourth ever to be seen in Britain - the most recent prior to that was in the Firth of Forth in 1903. ^[2] This occurrence was subsequently ^[3] linked to a mass movement of Harp Seals into Norwegian waters; by mid-February 1987, 24,000 Harp Seals were reported drowned in fishermens' nets and perhaps 300,000 (about 10% of the world population) had invaded fjords as far south as Oslo. The animals were in an emaciated condition and this was believed to be the result of food shortages, likely due to over-fishing by humans^{[citation needed]}. Vagrancy is a phenomenon in biology whereby individual animals appear well outside their normal range; individual animals which exhibit vagrancy are known as vagrants. ... The Shetland Islands, also called Shetland (archaically spelled Zetland) formerly called Hjaltland, comprise one of 32 council areas of Scotland. ... The Firth of Forth from Calton Hill The Forth Bridges cross the Firth Satellite photo of the Firth and the surrounding area Map of the Firth Firth of Forth (Scottish Gaelic: Linne Foirthe) is the estuary or firth of Scotlands River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea...

External links

• Harp Seal on pinniped.org: http://www.pinnipeds.org/species/harp.htm
• Harp Seal http://www.marinebio.org/species
• The Harp Seal on Underwater World. Canada Fish and Aquatic Life. http://www.dfo-mpo.ge.ca/zone/underwater
• Harp Seal Factsheet. Young Peoples Trust for the Environment. http://www.yptenc.org.uk
• Characteristics of Seals Alaska Fisheries Science Center. http://www.afsc.NOAA.gov
• Seals. Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies. http://www.coastalstudies.org
• FAQ Seals. Memorial University of Newfoundland Ocean Sciences Center. http://www.osc.mun.ca/seals
• Harp Seal. Center for Distance Learning and Innovation. http://www.stemnet.nf.ca
• Harp Seal Factsheet. International Marine Mammal Association. http://www.imma.org/harpseal.html

Notes and references