Harp Seal

Harp Seal, gregarious, migratory marine mammal. Three populations of harp seals can be found in the open seas of the Arctic Atlantic, most easily identified by their respective breeding areas. One group breeds off the coast of northern Newfoundland, the second in the Arctic Ocean northwest of Norway, and the third in the White Sea in the northwest corner of Russia.

These seals are named for the characteristic horseshoe-shaped "harp" markings on the sides and back of the body. These markings are darker on males, and the females’ "harps" may be broken up into spots. Adult seals have dark heads and round, expressive eyes. Both sexes weigh on average 136 kg (300 lb) and are approximately 1.6 m (5 ft) long.

Harp seals spend summers feeding in the northern reaches of their range, the open waters of the Arctic. Seals eat fish, such as capelin, herring, and cod; crustaceans, including crab and shrimp; and squid. When migrating south in the late autumn and winter, they may travel in groups of tens or hundreds, often leaping playfully out of the water like dolphins. When not migrating or hunting for fish, harp seals often sit on ice floes (small floating islands of ice) in the open sea. In fact, they may live out their lives without ever reaching the mainland. A thick protective layer of fat, called blubber, shields them from the cold, and strong, sharp claws on their front flippers help them haul their heavy bodies out of the water and across the ice.

Harp seals are monogamous, mating with just one partner for life. Mating takes place in the spring, when the channels of water opening up between the ice floes set the stage for the male harp seal’s courting dance. In this dance, the male bobs up and down next to the female in the water while holding himself in a vertical position. After a gestational period of nearly a year, tens of thousands of females gather to give birth on pack ice in late February to mid-March. Pups nurse for about 12 days and then are on their own. Mating occurs shortly after the pups are weaned, then the seals begin their migration to feeding grounds.

Covered with silky white fur, the youngest pups are called whitecoats. The white coat helps the baby seals blend into the wintry landscape—effective protection against all predators, except human hunters who target the newborns for their highly marketable pelts. At three weeks the fur turns into a coarser, silver-gray coat. The characteristic harp markings develop later. It takes up to 7 years for males and 12 years for females before the marks appear.

Natural predators of harp seals include polar bears, arctic foxes, and certain species of birds. Chemical pollutants, particularly in offshore breeding areas, threaten the seals’ health and reproduction. Hunted commercially since the early 1700s, more than 70 million harp seals have been killed in just the past two centuries. Ships registered in Denmark, the United States, France, Canada, and Russia participated in hunts at one time or another. Now a quota system agreed upon by the seal-hunting nations under the International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Treaty controls the number of harp seals taken commercially. The slaughter of baby harp seals by clubbing has been widely publicized and protested since the late 1960s. A 1983 ban on the import of whitecoat pelts by the European Economic Community severely diminished the market, and in 1987 Canada banned the killing of harp seal pups. However, many of these young seals are still killed illegally. The total population of harp seals is now estimated to be between 7 and 8 million.

Scientific classification: The harp seal belongs to the family Phocidae of the suborder Pinnipedia, order Carnivora. It is classified as Phoca groenlandica.

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