HARBOR SEAL 



The harbor seal is also known as the hair seal and leopard seal. 

 It lives in protected bays, at the mouths of rivers, and even in large lakes. 

 It also frequents the small, offshore islands where sea-lions haul out. It 

 is an "earless" seal, having only a small, round, bare spot on each side 

 of the head where fur seals and sea-lions have pointed ears; nevertheless, 

 it has internal ears and good hearing. It differs also in having its flippers 

 covered with hair, and in being unable to move its hind legs forward for 

 walking. On land it worms its way along awkwardly. In swimming the hind- 

 flippers are the principal source of propulsion, whereas the forelimbs are in 

 the "eared seals. " 



Description 



A large male weighed 256 pounds and measured 5 feet 7 inches in 

 length; a pregnant female 243 pounds and 4 feet 3 inches. Newly born 

 young weigh 25 to 30 pounds, length about 36 inches. 



The harbor seal is the only spotted seal found along the Pacific 

 Coast and in the Bering Sea south of the ice pack. Among the ice floes it 

 is easily confused with the ringed seal. The harbor seal is easily differ- 

 entiated from the fur seals and sea-lions by its maggot-like body form, 

 bead-like nodules on its whiskers, and coat of variable pattern. Its color 

 varies from almost white to almost black but is characteristically spotted 

 and blotched irregularly. In the fetal stage the pup is covered with a 

 white woolly coat, the lanugo. In southern areas this pelage is shed at 

 or soon after birth. In the northern Bering Sea it is not shed imtil several 

 days or weeks after birth. 



The harbor seal is often seen sprawled on a sandbar or log in a har- 

 bor or on outlying rocks. It may come up quietly near a boat, the round, 

 smooth head and dog-like face barely above the surface. If it is suddenly 

 alarmed, it sinks quietly backward out of sight, seldom plunging ahead like 

 a fxir seal or sea-lion. 



The voice of the adult is a harsh, screeching bark; of the pup a plain- 

 tive "kroooh." 



Range 



The harbor seal is found along the Pacific Coast from Mexico to the 

 Bering Sea. Related species range throughout the temperate and subarctic 

 regions of the entire northern hemisphere. In contrast to the fur seal, 

 which spends many months far at sea, the harbor seal usually remains 



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