Weddell seal
By brooke
Breeding
Weddell seals go onto stable fast ice to rest and moult. Females return to the same spot to give birth each year. Females of six years and older give birth in October to one pup per year. During breeding season males defend under water to stop other males to access breathing holes and the females.
Annotated drawing
Eating
The weddell seal has dived under the fast ice to catch food to eat
Breathing holes
This weddell seal has just about to finish digging the breathing hole
Adaptions
Weddell seals live under the ice but breathe air, how do they do that you ask. They must breathe through cracks and holes in the ice. There are more cracks during the warmer summer months but in winter they must use there canine teeth to crack open the ice which to breathe.
Diet and feeding
Weddel seals are carnivores. There main diet is squid, fish and krill. Weddell seals are very capable divers, remaining under water for up to 45 minutes and reaching depths as great as 720 meters in search of prey. Lengthy shallow dives are probably exploration dives for new ice holes and food sources.
Pups
A pup is a baby seal
Fast ice
The weddell seals are swimming under the fast ice
Beach
Enjoying laying on the beaches of antarctica
Fast facts
Type - mammal
Diet.- Carnivore
Average life span -30 years
Size - 3 metres
Weight - 400-500 kg
Group name -pod