Seal

True Wild Life | Seal | The common seal tends to be found in colder waters in many places around the world. Many species of seal inhabit waters in the northern hemisphere and are often found in coastal waters where there is an abundance of food and fewer number of predators. There are thought to more than 30 different species of seal found in the world's cooler waters from the smallest species of seal, the Caspian seal to the Elephant seal which is the largest species of seal. Other seal species include the grey seal and the leopard seal which is known for it's highly predatory and aggressive behaviour Seals are closely related to sea lions and also walruses

Leopard Seal

True Wild Life | Leopard Seal | The leopard seal is the second largest species of seal in the world (behind the elephant seal) with some female leopard seals growing to 3.5 m in length! The bull leopard seal (male leopard seal) is generally smaller than the female leopard seal with large males growing to around 3m. The leopard seal is native to the frozen waters of the Antarctic but is also found to the north in the warmer climates. Leopard seals are often seen near South America, South Africa, New Zealand and around the south coast of Australia often in the warmer waters that are on close proximity of the frozen seas which the leopard seal thrives.

Grey Seal

True Wild Life | Grey Seal | The grey seal is one of the rarest species of seal in the world with around 40% of the grey seal population inhabiting the cooler waters around the United Kingdom. Grey seals are the biggest land breeding mammal in the United Kingdom, but are superbly adapted for life in the sea. Adult grey seals have 2 layers of thick fur and a thick blubber layer of fat to keep them warm at sea.

Elephant Seal

True Wild Life | Elephant Seal | There are two types of elephant seal found in the worlds oceans. The northern elephant seal is found in the Northern Hemisphere in the Pacific Ocean near to the coast of Mexico, Canada and the USA. The southern elephant seal is found in the southern hemisphere on the coast of Argentina, South Africa and New Zealand. The elephant seal is the largest species of seal in the world with the average male elephant seal growing to around 5 m long. The female elephant seals are generally quite a bit smaller than the male elephant seals, and the female elephant seals therefore grow to around 3m.

Fur Seal

There are eight different species of fur seal found in the worlds oceans. Only one of these fur seal species is found in the northern hemisphere with the remaining seven species of fur seal found in the southern hemisphere.

Fur seals are much more closely related to sea lions than true seals, and like sea lions the fur seal has external ears (many species of true seal are in fact earless). The fur seal also has relatively long and muscular foreflippers, and fur seals are also able to walk on all fours when the fur seals reach land.

The fur seals most distinctive characteristic is the fur seals thick underfur which helps to keep the fur seal warm in freezing cold waters. The fur seals fur however has made the fur seal a long-time object of commercial hunting by humans.