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SEAL

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 535 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SEAL , strictly speaking the name of the See also:

common See also:European representative of that See also:group of marine carnivorous mammals constituting the suborder Pinnipedia of the See also:order See also:Carnivora, but in a wider sense used to designate all the members of that group, except the See also:walrus. The common seal (Phoca vitulina) is the typical representative not only of that group (see CARNIVORA), but also of the See also:family Phocidae and the subfamily Phocinae, and it is to this latter group that the See also:present See also:article is restricted. Although See also:seals swim and dive with the greatest ease, often remaining as much as a See also:quarter of an See also:hour or more below the See also:surface, and are dependent for their sustenance entirely on living See also:prey captured in the See also:water, all the See also:species frequently resort to sandy beaches, rocks or See also:ice-floes, either to See also:sleep or to bask in the See also:sun, and especially for the purpose of bringing forth their See also:young. The latter appears to be the universal See also:habit, and the young seals—of some species at least-take to the water at first very reluctantly, and have to be taught to swim by their parents. The number of young produced is usually one annually, though occasionally two. They are at first covered with a coat of very thick, soft, nearly See also:white See also:fur, and until this falls off they do not usually enter the water. This occurs in the See also:Greenland seal (Phoca groenlandica)and the See also:grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) when from two to three See also:weeks old, but in the common seal the See also:change takes See also:place either in utero or at See also:birth. The movements of the true seals upon the ground or ice are very different from those of the eared seals, or Otariidae, which walk and run upon all four feet, the See also:body being raised as in the See also:case of See also:ordinary quadrupeds. The bind limbs (by which seals mainly propel themselves through the water) are on See also:land perfectly passive, stretched backwards, with the soles of the feet applied to each other, and often raised to avoid contact with the ground. Some-times the fore-limbs are equally passive, being placed See also:close to the sides of the body; See also:motion being then effected by a shuffling or . wriggling See also:action produced by the muscles of the See also:trunk. When, however, there is See also:necessity for more rapid progress, the animals use the fore-paws, either alternately or simultaneously, pressing the palmar surface on the ground and lifting and dragging the body forwards in a See also:succession of See also:short jumps. In this way they can move so fast that a See also:man has to step out beyond a walk to keep up with them; but such rapid action See also:costs considerable effort, and they soon become exhausted.

These various modes of progression appear to be common to all species so far as has been observed. Most kinds of seals are gregarious and congregate, especially at the breeding See also:

season, in immense herds. Such is the habit of the See also:Green-land seal, which resorts in the See also:spring to the ice-floes of the See also:North See also:Sea, around See also:Jan See also:Mayen See also:Island. Others, like the common seal of the See also:British Islands, though having a wide See also:geographical range, are never met with in such large See also:numbers or far away from land. This species is stationary all the See also:year See also:round, but some have a See also:regular season of See also:migration. moving See also:south in See also:winter and north in summer. They are usually harmless, timid, inoffensive animals, though, being polygamous, the old See also:males often fight desperately with each other, their skins being frequently found covered with wounds and scars. They are greatly attached to their young, and remarkably docile and easily trained when in captivity; indeed there is perhaps no See also:wild See also:animal which attaches itself so readily to the See also:person by whom it is cared for and fed. They have much curiosity, and are strongly attracted by musical sounds. Their sense of See also:smell is acute, and their See also:voice varies from a harsh bark or grunt to a plaintive bleat. Seals feed chiefly on See also:fish, of which they consume enormous quantities; some, however, subsist largely on crustaceans, especially species of Gam-merits, which swarm in the See also:northern seas, also on molluscs, sea-urchins and even occasionally !sea-birds, which they seize when See also:swimming or floating on the water. Although the true seals do not possess the beautiful under-fur (" seal-skin " of the furriers) which makes the skin of the sea-bears or fur-seals so See also:precious, their hides are still valuable as articles of See also:commerce, and together with the oil yielded by their See also:fat, subject them to a devastating persecution. Two species of seal are met with regularly on the British coasts, the common seal and the grey seal.

The former is a See also:

constant See also:resident in all suitable localities round the Scottish, Irish and See also:English coasts, from which it has not been driven away by man. Although the most secluded and out-of-the-way spots are selected as their habitual dwelling-places, there are few localities where these seals may not occasionally be seen. They frequent bays, inlets and estuaries, and See also:Ftc. 2.-See also:Skull of Common Seal, with one of the molars on a larger See also:scale. are seen on sandbanks or mud-flats See also:left dry at See also:low See also:tide. Unlike some of their congeners, they are not found on the ice-floes of the open sea, nor, though gregarious, are very large numbers ever seen in one spot. The young are See also:born at the end of May or beginning of See also:June. They feed chiefly on fish, and the destruction they occasion among See also:salmon is well known to Scottish fishermen. The common seal is found not only on the European and See also:American coasts bordering the See also:Atlantic, but also in the North Pacific. It is from 4 to 5 ft. in length, and variable in See also:colour, though usually yellowish grey, with irregular spots of dark See also:brown or See also:black above and yellowish white beneath. According to Dr J. A.

See also:

Allen, there is a marked difference between the dentition of the male and See also:female of the common seal. In the latter See also:sex the See also:teeth are much smaller than those of the male, and are inserted more obliquely in the See also:jaw; they also differ by the reduction in the See also:size and number of the See also:accessory cusps, which are almost invariably absent on the inner See also:side. The grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) is of considerably larger size, the males attaining when fully adult a length of 8 ft. from the See also:nose to the end of the See also:hind feet. The See also:form of the skull and the See also:simple characters of the molar teeth distinguish it generically from the common seal. It is of a yellowish grey colour, lighter beneath, and with dark grey spots or blotches, but, like most other seals, is liable to See also:great See also:variations of colour according to See also:age. The grey seal appears to be restricted to the North Atlantic, having been rarely seen on the American coasts, but not farther south than Nova See also:Scotia; it is chiefly met with on the coasts of See also:Ireland, See also:England, See also:Scotland, Norwayand See also:Sweden, including the Baltic and Gulf of See also:Bothnia, and See also:Iceland, though it does not appear to range farther north. It is not migratory, and its favourite breeding-places are rocky islands, the young being born in the end of See also:September or beginning of See also:October. As the grey seal is sometimes confused with the bearded seal (Phoca barbata), the following See also:account, by T. See also:Southwell, of the distinctions between the two may be quoted: " As to the See also:external features by which the grey seal may at any age be distinguished from the bearded seal, which it most resembles, in the first place the abnormal season of See also:reproduction in this species is unique; it is the only seal which has its young in the See also:late autumn. The large size is not a very trustworthy distinction, as it varies considerably in individuals; but a marked feature is the great length of the claws in the fore-flipper, the first two digits of which are nearly of equal length and extend beyond the others; those on the hind-flippers are small and weak, the margin of the skin extending beyond them, and the See also:outer toes on each See also:foot the longest. The See also:long, See also:scimitar-shaped, flattened and crenulated See also:lip-bristles do not differ greatly from those of other species, except from those of the bearded seal, the only species in which this curious impressed See also:pattern is absent. The muzzle is broad and fleshy, and the upper lip and nose extend considerably beyond the See also:lower jaw.

Dr Edmondston calls See also:

special See also:attention to this peculiarity, and states that in seizing its prey he has often seen it ` make a slight turn in the manner of a See also:shark.' A See also:captive young grey seal in taking fluid See also:food always turned its See also:head on one side and sucked it in through the side of the mouth. Another feature, which, so far as I know, is See also:peculiar to this species, is the See also:dog-like way in which, when on the alert, it carries its fore-flippers to the front. " Dr Edmondston also mentions a curious disposal of the See also:hair on the See also:neck of the adult animals, which he attributes to there being four or five rings of hair a little longer than on the See also:rest of the body, which, he says, give it the See also:appearance when rearing its head some-what out of the water, as if several small See also:ropes, encircled its neck. This is a sedentary species, seldom straying far from its chosen locality and rarely met with far from land. " In the British seas the grey seal resorts to tide-washed rocks and lonely beaches, from See also:Shetland and the See also:Orkney Isles in the north to a few scattered localities along the See also:east and south coasts, as far as See also:Cornwall and even the Channel Islands; northward on the See also:west See also:coast to See also:Wales, the outlying rocks in the Irish Sea and the See also:Hebrides —a sufficiently comprehensive range, and in a few favoured spots it is still fairly numerous. It is seldom found far from land, and seems to be much attached to particular spots, to which it regularly returns as the See also:state of the tide permits. In the breeding-season, which is the late autumn or See also:early winter, its favourite resort is the inner See also:recess of an ocean-cavern, often only to be approached under water; here, in October or See also:November, it deposits its single young one on the small See also:beach at the far end of the See also:cave, beyond the reach of the tide, attending it assiduously for several weeks, until it has See also:shed its See also:infant-coat, which is at first beautifully long, soft and white, offering a great contrast to the young of the common seal. The young are suckled for six weeks before they take to the water, and during that See also:time they are practically land animals. From this time till maturity several successive changes of pelage in each sex take place." Other species of seals inhabiting the nothern seas, of which stragglers have occasionally visited the British coasts, are the small ringed seal or " See also:floe-See also:rat " of the sealers (Phoca hispida), the Green-land or See also:harp-seal (Phoca groenlandica), the hooded or See also:bladder-nosed seal (Cystophora cristata) and the bearded seal (Phoca barbata). See also SEAL-See also:FISHERIES. (W. H.

F. ; R.

End of Article: SEAL

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