Jar seal, Fjord seal, Netsik, Nattiq, Ringed seal
The ringed seal (Pusa hispida ) is an earless seal inhabiting the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. The ringed seal is a relatively small seal, rarely greater than 1.5 m in length, with a distinctive patterning of dark spots surrounded by light grey rings, hence its common name. It is the most abundant and wide-ranging ice seal in the Northern Hemisphere, ranging throughout the Arctic Ocean, into the Bering Sea and Okhotsk Sea as far south as the northern coast of Japan in the Pacific and throughout the North Atlantic coasts of Greenland and Scandinavia as far south as Newfoundland, and including two freshwater subspecies in northern Europe. Ringed seals are one of the primary prey of polar bears and killer whales, and have long been a component of the diet of indigenous people of the Arctic.
Ringed seals are the smallest and most abundant member of the seal family that live in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions. The average life span of a ringed seal is 40 years, with a diet based mainly on Arctic cod and planktonic crustaceans. Typically about 1.5 metres (5 ft) long, the ringed seal is known to be solitary with their main predator being polar bears. Recently, however, the biggest threat to ringed seals has been the changing temperature in the Arctic and the detrimental changes to sea ice that follow. With declines in snowpack and sea ice due to warming ocean and atmospheric temperatures, survival has become tougher for ringed seals in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions. Yet ringed seals are also potentially projected to thrive due to warming, considering the early extinction of their predators.
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DiurnalDiurnal animals are active during the daytime, with a period of sleeping or other inactivity at night. The timing of activity by an animal depends ...
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CarnivoreA carnivore meaning 'meat eater' is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of a...
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PiscivoresA piscivore is a carnivorous animal that eats primarily fish. Piscivorous is equivalent to the Greek-derived word ichthyophagous. Fish were the die...
A planktivore is an aquatic organism that feeds on planktonic food, including zooplankton and phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are usually photosynthet...
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SemiaquaticSemiaquatic animals are those that are primarily or partly terrestrial but that spend a large amount of time swimming or otherwise occupied in wate...
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PrecocialPrecocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
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NatatorialNatatorial animals are those adapted for swimming. Some fish use their pectoral fins as the primary means of locomotion, sometimes termed labriform...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Among animals, viviparity is the development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. The term 'viviparity' and its adjective form 'viviparous'...
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PolygynyPolygyny is a mating system in which one male lives and mates with multiple females but each female only mates with a single male.
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Generally solitaryGenerally solitary animals are those animals that spend their time separately but will gather at foraging areas or sleep in the same location or sh...
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MigratingAnimal migration is the relatively long-distance movement of individual animals, usually on a seasonal basis. It is the most common form of migrati...
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Not a migrantAnimals that do not make seasonal movements and stay in their native home ranges all year round are called not migrants or residents.
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starts withRinged seals are the smallest of the pinnipeds. The color of their coat is variable, but it is usually dark gray on the upperparts, while being light gray to silver underneath. Dark gray spots are ringed by silver or light grayish-white circles, which are clearer on the sides and back and often so close together that they fuse. A Ringed seal is plump with a small, round head and a thick, short neck. Its broad, blunt snout and large, forward-facing, close-set eyes give it an appearance that is almost cat-like. The front flippers are relatively small, with slightly pointed claws of more than one inch in thickness, used for maintaining breathing holes in thick ice. Their whiskers are beaded and light-colored. Males are usually slightly larger than females.
Ringed seals inhabit the Arctic Ocean, the Bering Sea and the Okhotsk Sea as far to the south as Japan's northern coast in the Pacific, and the North Atlantic coastal parts of Scandinavia and Greenland and as far to the south as Newfoundland, including two freshwater subspecies which live in northern Europe. Ringed seals do not come to shore through much of their range. Instead, they live in Arctic waters and are typically found where there is pack ice and ice floes. Further south and in Lake Ladoga and Lake Saimaa these seals rest on rocks, offshore reefs and island shores when ice is absent.
Ringed seals are diurnal, meaning they are active during the day. Adults are solitary except during the breeding season when they may establish their lairs closer to each other. In mid-May they begin to haul out up onto the ice to bask in the sun. They molt during this time and feed less. Ringed seals hunt on their own, and on the ice when resting they will keep away from others. They usually stay near to holes or cracks so that they can get quickly into the water if they need to. They make lairs from snow to protect themselves. Some of the seals migrate seasonally in response to the availability of ice, and there is some evidence of migration over long distances, particularly for juveniles.
Ringed seals are generalists and their diet includes a range of fish, crustaceans, cephalopods, euphausiids, amphipods, mysids and shrimp.
Ringed seals are polygynous, one male mating with multiple females. The breeding season is from April to May. The females build lairs amongst the thick ice where they give birth. In March or April, after gestation of 9 months, they bear a single pup. They nurse their pups for 5 to 7 weeks, and, during this time, may move their pups between lairs, usually having 4 to 6 lairs. This allows pups to move independently from shelter to shelter when they are older, if they are attacked. Females usually bear pups between the ages of 6 and 8. Males typically do not breed until they are 8 to 10 years old.
Climate change is the greatest threat to Ringed seals. Being dependent upon an ice habitat, both ice and snow need to be stable enough in the spring to allow females to raise the pups in their lairs. But as Arctic ice is continuing to melt every year and the ice breaks up sooner, mothers may increasingly become separated from their pups prematurely, which increases the risk of predation and exposure. Furthermore, warm spring temperatures and spring rains can also cause the collapse of the roofs of lairs, with similar results. Other threats to these seals are pollution, disturbance, and getting tangled in fishing nets.
According to the IUCN Red List, the world-wide population size of Ringed seals is not accurately known and can be between 1,5 and 3 million mature individuals, including five recognized subspecies: Arctic Ringed Seal - 1,450,000, Okhotsk Ringed Seal - 44,000, Baltic Ringed Seal - 11,500, Ladoga Seal - 3,000-4,500, Saimaa Seal - 135-190. The world-wide population is currently classified as Least Concern (LC) mostly due to broad distribution of Arctic Ringed Seal subspecies.
