Harbor Seals
Phoca Vitulina
Classification
Domain Eukarya-
- This group contains multicellular cells
- Has a nucleus because its multicellular
- These animals also lack a cell wall and chloroplast
Kingdom Animalia-
- Metozoa which are multicellular eukaryotes, no prokaryotes
- All are heretrophs which means they rely on other organisms for food
- Most reproduce sexually, which means they need a partner to reproduce with
Phylum-
- Structures which are organisms which are also called notochard used for development
- Bilateral symmetry,segmented body,strong muscles and germ layers to protect the skin (3)
- They have a complete digestive system, the have all the cords,vessels, and bony which is an endoskeleton
Class-
- Mostly all the mammal species have at least 3 character traits that other specific animas do not have
- The 3 most likely character traits that other animals would not have are 3 middle ear bones, hair (different or special), and the production of milk by sweat or mammary glands
- The Mammalia family has about 5000 species in 26 orders, these are orders and family's that are related to each other
Order-
- Carnivora which also means Carnivore , these animals are meat eaters
- Carnivora have alot of different and diverse food habits which meas they have to eat certain food choices
- These Carnivora habits mostly are in the group of order and the animals that are in order are bats, marsupials , dolphins, whales and other primates
Family-
- This group contains 19 species and 10 genus, which some are found at tropical places and others freshwater lakes and few rivers
- regular small seals are 90 kg and males can weigh up to 3600 kg which would be a massive elephant seal
- The seals flippers are smaller than the rest of the body and cannot be brought under the body so they move by flexing and sliding there spine , some can move faster than human moving as they do
Genus-
- Harbor seal
These are the seals swimming in the water
This is a seal on the pebbles resting from a swim
This is another seal just resting on land
General Description
Diet-
- Harbor Seals eat squid,mollusk,fish,and other ocean creatures
- Newborn Seal Pups normally weigh from 8-26 pounds
- At birth the size of a newborn seal would be about 100 -756 mm (millimeters)
- the average life span of this Seal would be about 25 to 30 years
- These seals have a wide range color of there skin such as different variations from silver to black spots, so basically light to dark shades of spots when they have sexual maturity they change spot color
- There are about 400,000-500,000 Harbor Seals around the globe
- Harbor Seals belong to Pinnipedia family of mammals which includes seals, whales,sea lions and walruses.
- Another name for the Harbor Seal is the Common Seal mostly only called in the UK though
- Harbor Seals mostly fear big sharks such as the Killer and Great White sharks
Physical Adaptations
Harbor Seals have many Physical Adaptations but a few of them are......
- Claws, Claws help the animal survive by helping it to scratch,defend themselves and to keep clean by grooming.
- Teeth, Teeth help the animal survive by helping the seal grab , rip and tear food instead of chew. This is how they scare prey with there big mouth and teeth. They have about 34-36 teeth. They are very sharp.
- Hind Flippers, the Hind Flippers help it survive when they go into the water the seals Hind Flipper pushes it inot the water. This is important because seals need to be in the water alot , like 50 % of there time they are in the water. The Hind Flippers can also be used as a rudder or a stopper when needed to halt.
- Fur Color, can help the animal survive by there fur color which can range from black to gray variations can help with camoflague from predators on pebble backes or any type of beachy area.
- Fore Flippers, can help the animal survive by helping it with helping to grab or cling onto things. Such as grabbing a rock for the sea to rest on, or help to get prey by clinging on to it.
Behavioral Adaptions
The Harbor Seal also has many Physical Adaptations but a few of them areā¦.
- Sleeping in the water, this helps the seal survive by helping it with because seals can't move around on land much because there feet are tucked in there bodies so they use there bellies but if the do not want to sleep on the land they sleep in the water because they can't move much.
- Diving, this helps the seal survive by helping it with because diving allows the seal to hunt for prey and hide from predators when they are wanting to go down low.
- Breathing,this helps the seal survive by helping it with because they swim about 50 % of the time in water and they need to learn how to breathe while swimming so this is really an important thing for the seals to learn. They swim a lot.
- Belly, this helps the seal survive by helping it with because the Seal learns how adapt to move with the belly by sliding there body forward and flopping becuase the the seals flippers are tucked into there lower back body so the flppers can not help it . So the Stomach is there main movement tool.
- Swimming, this helps the seal survive by helping it with The seals have to learn how to swim because this helps them get away from predators faster and this s how they get there food. Harbor Seals eat fish, squid and other ocean crusteaceans.
References
- http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Phoca_vitulina/
- http://seaworld.org/animal-info/animal-bytes/mammals/harbor-seal/
- Burton, M. (2002). Harbor seal. In International wildlife encyclopedia
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Harbor_Seal