/img/ - Aesthetics & Images

Harbour seals resting near the Thames.

>>15087
More harbour seals (one of my favorite seal species)

If you're walking on a seal spot area, and see seals purposely turning their heads towards you, you should not come any closer. Most seals species have been hunted almost to extinction by humans for centuries, as a consequence nearby human presence stresses them. Watch them for a distance, for their well-being.

Harbour seals gather in large groups to rest. Unlike other species, these colonies don't really follow any kind of hierarchy. They just hang out.

Unlike other species, harbor seal pups don't have white fur (vituligo) to keep them warm. There is an upside to this : they are able to swim only few hours after birth !

This is my wallpaper.

This pup is extremely cute. If you have the chance to spot one, stay away ! It's extremely important that you don't touch them or even get close ! It could stress out the mother, and make it abandon her pup. Again, harbour seals are very fearful of humans.

Seals are magnificient and graceful underwater.

Seal whiskers are extremely sensitive, and very useful to them. They help them to detect fishes.

Even if they are a protected species in France, harbour seals are still getting killed by fishermen, sometimes even beheaded. These scrotes accuse seals of stealing "their" fishes. It is true that seals are opportunistic and won't hesitate to snag fishes caught in fishnets : it's easier after all. These moids tend to forget that seals where there before humans, and that as predators they help to regulate the whole ecosystem. Fishermen and seals will have to learn how to cohabitate. Smart ways to deter seals from stealing fishes are studied and getting implemented a bit everywhere.

This harbour seal posture is pretty funny and cute, it looks like a banana. Why is it doing this ? As humans, seals have an inner temperature of about 37°C. The waters they swim in are way colder than this, and inner temperature drops faster in the water than in the air. As a consequence, seals need to get out of the sea to warm themselves. Their face and paws have less fat than the rest of the body to protect them. They don't want to have these parts touch the cold, soaked sand, so that they can get warmer.

>>15102
This is a cute drawing I made to poke fun of seals posing like bananas.

>>15086

Hi seal-anon, what made you get so interested in seals to begin with? They are so cute!

>>15110
>>15110
Hi, well I'm not really sure… I used not to care about seals until I discovered that they came back to the beaches of France few months ago. I started to get really into them probably because they look like obese sea cats (I'm initially a cat lover). I love how fat and plumpy they look, especially when they rest like blobs. They look like they're made of jelly or something, and these kind of materials always fascinated me for some reason.

They're also part of our local fauna that we have to protect. I'm also hoping I will witness the return of the mediterannean monk seal in the french riviera in my lifetime. But for now they're trapped to some tiny greek and atlantic islands.
I'm supporting the MOm (www.mom.gr) fundation that is dedicated to the reintroduction of this monk seal specy.

This thread should be a reminder that no matter where you live, there are probably exotic looking, magnificient animal species living right now in your country, but on a critical condition. Or animals waiting to be reintroduced to their initial area of distribution. In any case, these animals need support from (benevolent) humans not to disapear completely because of human induced dysregulations.

This is a hawaiian monk seal, a cousin of our mediteranean monk seal, and the extinct caribean monk seals, RIP. This specy would have went under too, if a conservation program wouldn't have been issued in the 60's. They still need support from local volunteers to prevent humans from bothering them when they come on the beaches to rest, give birth, or nurse pups. Americans especially have a rich wildlife to protect, but the general public lacks awareness about it, imo.
If you can do something to help these wildlife conservation organizations, it's great, even if it's not much. You don't even have to make a donation, simply learning about what to do not to bother your local wildlife, and putting it into action, is a great step ahead for animals.

Yes this silly hawaiian monl seal is stuck with an eel in its nose. Vets had to get it removed, and the animal was unharmed.

>>15104
Cute!

I'll dump a few elephants.

Thanks for sharing a bunch of interesting facts OP! My parents gave me a seal stuffed animal as a kid and then seals kind of became my animal. I had seal blankets, seal toys, anything seal they would get for me so this thread feels pretty comfy

>>15185
I also really like Mamegoma

>>15185
lucky you !
I was about to get a fat seal plush but it got stolen ;____;

In the meantime I'm making pinniped memes

some furseals (otaridae)
For some reason the "arctocephalus" clade name keeps cycling in my head. Wierd, but these animals rookeries are pretty mesmerizing to watch, listen (and smell).

>>15418
baby cape furseal
adorable creature

>>15419
fat

finally i'm able to post again

Ginger seals are a thing !

>>18864
But it's especially the pups that can have this red fur color. For adults, the teint more dispersed.

>>18865
I got to see them IRL! They were so fat and goofy.

I would love to swim in such a pool!

surreal

I offer a tatt bombatty

>>23414
I wish I could stroke a baby seal so bad

>>23478
Contact your local seal shelter and become a volunteer !

>>24024
>>24025
>>24026
so fat and cute !