Types of Seals

Seals, the fin footed mammals that belong the Pinnipedia family. These are semi-aquatic marine creatures that are carnivorous in nature. Seals use their fins as feet and spend most of their time in water. There are about 33 known species of seals. The super family Pinniped is divided into 3 different subfamilies based on the characteristic of the members. These families include the Odobenidae, Otariidae and Phocidae. Let us have a look at these families in short and then go through the different seal types in the following paragraphs.

Seal Types According to Family

The seals belonging to Pinnipeds have sleek bodies that are barrel-shaped. These mammals are different in size according to the species. Seals are highly intelligent marine creatures and aggressive too. They are wild at heart and will attack humans if one gets too close to their home or young ones. They love basking in sun and spending long hours on the rocks. When underwater, they are agile hunters and fine swimmers. They undergo molting that is, shedding of skin. This process takes about 6 weeks to complete. Seals tend to become very irritable and make a lot of noise when molting. This is because of the high levels of hormones in their body making them go cranky. When molting, the seals do not eat anything. However, the blubber in their body helps them survive these long weeks without food. Curious by nature, seals are an interesting species that should be saved from extinction. Let us now have a look at the three families of seals types.

Odobenidae
The Odobenidae family has the walrus as the only surviving member. The long tusks are hard to miss when trying to spot a walrus. They feed on clams and mollusks. Weighing over 4, 400 lbs, are found exclusively on the cold lands of the Arctic.

Otariidae
The Otariidae family consists of the Eared seals as the members. They are also known as the walking seals. They can move on all fours when on land. They have an external ear that helps differentiate them from the true seals. These social creatures are very noisy. They are commonly known as the Sea Lions and the Fur seals.

Phocidae
The true seals or the 'earless seals' are the most widely found members of Phocidae family. These seals do not have an external ear and are far better swimmers than the eared seals. They are however a bit clumsy on land and use only their front flippers for walking. They do not vocalize a lot and tend to grunt or slap the water to communicate with each other.

Different Types

Let us now have a look at the different seals that inhabit the cold waters around the world. Go through the table and find a few of the different types with their pictures and learn some information tit-bit about these creatures.

Click on the image for a larger view

Leopard Seal (Hydrurga leptonyx)

The leopard seal is the second largest seal of all the species. They live in the cold regions of Antarctic ocean. The leopard seal is the most aggressive of all seal types. They live in small groups as compared to other seals that live in fairly larger groups. It is not uncommon to see leopard seals living in pairs. They eat krill, fish and other small marine creatures. Their favorite food is a freshly caught penguin. The average life span of leopard seal in wild is about 26 years.

Harp Seal (Pagophilus groenlandica)
	The cute white seals with little brown or black fur are harp seals. They look like polar bear pups when young. They live around the coasts of Atlantic and Arctic ocean. They are about 5½ feet in length and weigh about 400 lbs. Their diet consists of small fish and invertebrates. The average life span of harp seal in wild is about 30 years.

Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina)

Small in size compared to other seals, the harbor seals are just about 6 feet in length. They have a distinctive pattern of spots on their body and 'V' shaped nostrils that are not found in any other seal types. They are found along the Arctic coastline, Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean and the Baltic Sea. They love basking in the sun lying on the rocks. Their diet consists of octopus, squid, cod, herring, salmon and walleye. The life span of a female harbor seal is about 30 to 35 years and males is about 20 to 25 years in the wild.

Gray Seal (Halichoerus grypus)
	The gray seal is a medium-sized seal that reaches about 10 feet in length. Their nostrils are placed wide apart on their face and have a brown to dark gray color. Their diet consists of different types of fish. They live for about 30 years in wild and 40 years in captivity.

Northern Elephant Seal (Mirounga angustirostris)
	The male Northern Elephant seals have a snout on their face like an elephant. The males are very large in size and grow about 14 feet in length. The females are shorter than males, yet reach a length of about 11 feet. They are light gray to dark black in color. They usually hunt in night and eat a lot of fish and marine animals.

Southern Elephant Seal (Mirounga leonina)

The largest seals in the world are the Southern Elephant seals. They too have a snout or trunk like projection on their mouth that makes them look like elephants. These type of seals have large heads. They are known to make deep loud sounds that seem like roars to those who hear them. These sounds are particularly made by males around breeding season. They feed on squid, fish and an occasional penguin too. These seals are able to live under water for about 2 hours by lowering their heart rate to about 1 beat per minute.

Weddell Seal (Leptonychotes weddellii)

The most cutest of all types of seals are the Weddell seals. They are about 10 feet in length and can weigh about 1,000 pounds. They live mostly in an area called the McMurdo Sound that is about 800 miles away from South Pole. The males are very vocal and will continuously make sounds to claim their territory. What makes them so popular among humans is the way they bask on ice. They lie on their backs and hold their stomachs with their flippers. With their mouth open, they look as if they are holding their stomach in laughter. Also, they are not very aggressive and very calm in nature when compared to different types of seals.

Hawaiian Monk Seal (Monachus schauinslandi)

The Hawaiian monk seals are found inhabiting the waters of Hawaii. The females are about 8 feet in length and males are about 7 feet in length. They are more of solitary animals and are found living alone or in small groups. These types of seals are very good swimmers and have great eyesight. Thus, they are great hunters and have no trouble finding food in water. These seals are not very noisy and spend their time quietly basking in sun. The live for about 25 years in the wild.

Antarctic Fur Seal (Arctocephalus gazella)
	The Antarctic fur seals are the types of seals which has visible external ears. These seals also have really long whiskers and waterproof fur on the body. They can grow about 6 feet in length. They can live on land as well as sea. They feed on fish, squid and krill. The life span of a female Antarctic fur seal is about 25 years and males live about 15 years.

Galapagos Fur Seal (Arctocephalus gazella)
	The Galapagos fur seals are found inhabiting the Galápagos Islands around Ecuador. The color of these seals is dark brown to light gray. They feed at night and can spend long hours in search of food. They spend 6 days in water and then one whole day on land. The average life span of Galapagos fur seals is about 20 years.

Northern Fur Seal (Arctocephalus gazella)
	The Northern Fur seals are found in the northern region of Pacific ocean, Bering sea and the Sea of Okhotsk. These seals have short heads and a curved mouth. Their nose is very small and sport very thick fur. They eat any type of fish they are lucky to find. They are not deep divers and live more around the shoreline.

This is all about the different types of seals. As you can see these seal types spend most of their time underwater. Most of these seals are placed under endangered animals list due to over-hunting and loss of natural habitat. Global warming is adding to their woes. Conservation steps will help prevent extinction of these surviving seal species. Hope, you have found some useful information related to seals from the above paragraphs.