Bearded Seal By: Robby
Appearance:
The Bearded seal has white whiskers that they use to feel across
the ocean floor for food. They have a tuft of bristles on each
side of their muzzle.The bearded seal lives on the coast of the
Arctic. They are 7 to 9 feet long and 450 lbs. to 800 lbs.! Their
coat is gray or brown. The brown coated females are slightly
longer then the brown coated males.
Habitat: The Bearded seal lives in places such as, the shallow water in the Arctic ocean, Seas of Alaska, Laptev Sea, Barnets Sea, North Atlantic, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Westren Atlantic, Iceland, Norway, Portugal, Bering sea, Okhot sea, Hokkaido, China, Quebec side of Hudsen bay and Chukchi white and Kara seas. They are found in ice covered waters less than 200 m deep. They prefer broken pack ice and ice flows. But they are also found on shore fast ice and thick ice were they are able to maintain breathing holes. When they are holed out onto the ice flow, they can move rapidly through the water which is good protection against predators.
Food: The Bearded seal eats crabs, shimps, clams, cod and flounder. They use their claws on thier flippers to dig into their food. They hunt on the ocean floor with their whiskers feeling around for food on the ocean floor.
Enemies: The Bearded seal has enemies such as the Polar Bear and Eskimo hunters. The Polar Bears eat the seals and the Eskimo hunters hunt the seals for supplies. 1,500 to 2,000 are killed a year.
Life Cycle: A baby Bearded seal is born with a gray-brown coat. A female Bearded seal gives birth to another seal 2 weeks after the first one. When pups are newborn they weigh about 75 lbs. and are about 52 inches. The Bearded seal moults and gives birth on the ice. A baby bearded seal can swim imediately once they are born.
Other Facts: The Bearded seals heart beats 120 beats over water and 4 beats a minute under water. They have excellent eye sight, good hearing and a fair sence of smell. Yupik speaking Eskimos call the Bearded seal Mucluk. Inuit speaking Eskomos call it Oogruk. A young oogruk is called a Oogruarokh. A oogruk pulled onto the ice is called a Kamuituk. Mukluk by accident was the name of a footwear. The story was told that when white men first came to Alaska, someone asked a local resident what he was wearing on his feet. The Eskomo thought he was being asked what his boots were made of. He answered Mukluk (meaning Bearded seal). Polution, global warming and boat traffic is a concern.