Video Clips Include:
Suckling Pup
Wary Mother, Newborn Pup
Presented by explore.org
and Seal Island National Wildlife Service |
It’s Pupping Season!
January 2015
Watch live footage and highlight clips from the seal cam located on the rocky shore of Seal Island, Maine. Through February, hundreds of seal pups are expected to be born on the island. The mothers remain onshore with their pups for approximately three weeks after birth. Nursing pups are quickly weaned and soon shed their white fur, or lanugo, then enter the water and learn to catch prey and live on their own.
During the shortest days of the year, gray seals return to Seal Island to give birth and feed. The 300-pound females have one pup per year, with the peak of births in mid-January. The pups are born with thick, white fur. They begin to shed (molt) at about 3 weeks. After molting, young seals will look similar to their dark, spotted parents.
Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge is a remote 65-acre island off the coast of Maine. The island is also the prime nesting site for the Atlantic puffin.
How do Gray Seals respond to seasonal change? The images and video captured during the early spring birthing season are your springboard to research and discovery.
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