“Weddell’s rides”: polar explorers showed the fun of seals. VIDEO
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Employees of the scientific station “Akademik Vernadskyi” filmed the funny moment of the Weddell calf’s descent. It came off a snowy slope, the moment was recorded at the National Antarctic Science Center. Polar explorers captured the fun on Darbo Island, when one seal pup went down to another sleeping companion. The workers of the Antarctic station also reminded that female Weddell seals come to the “Vernadsky” area in the spring (when it is autumn in Ukraine) to give birth to their cubs. They bring one baby per season. The mother feeds the seal pup with nutritious milk for about a month and takes care of it. Interestingly, her milk has about 54% fat. When the cub grows up a little, the parents teach it to hunt for krill (small fish), and later the seal becomes independent. Weddell seals usually search for food at night, so they lie on the shores of ice islands during the day. Representatives of 4 seal families live in Antarctica. “The Weddell seal is a peace-loving fat man, it stays in the Antarctic region all year round and supports holes in a crisis, which it gnaws out with its own teeth”, – explain the employees of the “Akademik Vernadskyi” station. There is also a krillid seal – the most abundant species of Antarctic seal. He also lives on the ice continent all year round, and also likes to swim on ice floes. Polar scientists note that one of the main predators of the Antarctic is the sea leopard. He hunts penguins, does not like “uninvited guests” on his territory, but in winter he swims to the warmer Subantakrtkika. The whitest seal of the glacial continent is the southern elephant seal. He mostly lives on the Subantarctic islands, and rarely visits Antarctica. There is another species that is very similar to seals. These are eared southern fur seals. They come to Antarctica in the fall to rest on the rocky slopes. Most of the time they live and breed in the Subantarctic. Scientists said that a large part of Antarctic seals was destroyed for fur, meat and fat. Some species were even on the verge of extinction. Therefore, it was necessary to introduce a Convention that protected pinnipeds, the Madrid Protocol took all Antarctic mammals and birds under protection. Read also: “We believe that we will soon be like this too”: the polar explorers showed the Weddell seal. VIDEO
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