Hooded Seal - Meet The Endangered
Hooded Seal (Cystophora cristata)
The Hooded Seal spends its resting life on neither land nor sea, but rather floating on the icepack of the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans. The ice must be of the thick, multi-year variety to support the weight of this massive phocid - males can reach 2.6 m (8.5 ft) long and weigh up to 410 kg (900 lb).
The seal has the shortest childhood of any mammal. In just four days of weaning, the pups double in size and then the mothers promptly abandon them into the icy seas. They spend 90% of their lives diving beneath the ice, reaching depths of 600 m (1,970 ft) - but must return to the icepack to breed.
Climate change threatens the Hooded Seal more directly than perhaps any other animal. Polar icepack is both shrinking and thinning, effectively destroying much of the species’ suitable habitat. The northeastern population surrounding Jan Mayen Island is not expected to survive the century.
IUCN: Endangered (EN)
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