Weddell seals are the southernmost breeding mammal on Earth, and are found only in Antartica. This fun new short-short video produced by Weddell seal population study multimedia creator and writer Jeremy Schmidt presents "Five Weddell Facts":
Weddell seals are magnificent divers. They can hold their breath for over an hour, and have been recorded diving over 2000 feet deep. This diving ability allows them to swim far beneath the sea ice to access the surface in remote pupping colonies to give birth and raise their pups without threat from natural predators such as Orca and leopard seals. Weddells access the surface through cracks in the sea ice to give birth on top of the ice. These cracks are often associated with the rise and fall of the ocean tides against the ice frozen to land masses and islands. The ice attached to these land masses is referred to as "fast ice" as it is where the tidal sea ice meets the ice frozen fast to the land masses. In this quick time lapse video the rising and falling of the ocean tides creates cracks in a Weddell seal pupping colony that allows the seals to access the ice surface and the cold sea water below:
It is estimated that there are approximately 800,000 Weddell seals surrounding the Antarctic continent. The Weddell seal population and mass dynamics study focuses on the Weddell seals that return each year to Erebus Bay near the U.S. Antarctic base, McMurdo Station on Ross Island. Erebus Bay is located in the McMurdo Sound area of the Ross Sea. These waters are the most pristine marine environment remaining on Earth.
Weddell seals are "philopatric", meaning they return to the areas of their own births to reproduce and have their pups. This characteristic allows the scientists to study a particular population of Weddell seals over the course of many years and several generations of seals. This Weddell seal population study has been ongoing for over 50 years, and has developed a longterm data set unique in the scientific community. By studying the individual differences of so many seals going back several generations, the project scientists are able to make discoveries as to which individual characteristic of those Weddell moms and pups have contributed to the survival of those pups to adulthood to have pups of their own.
In an upcoming post we'll go into more detail about the lives of Weddell seal moms and pups and the individual characteristics of these amazing polar marine predators that project scientists have learned are significant to likelihood of pup survival and reproduction.
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