Tape seal
| Tape seal | ||||||||||||
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Band seal ( Histriophoca fasciata ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Histriophoca | ||||||||||||
| Gill , 1873 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Histriophoca fasciata | ||||||||||||
| ( Zimmermann , 1783) |
The ribbon seal ( Histriophoca fasciata ) is a in the Arctic spread Seal of the family of earless seals .
features
Adult band seals are unmistakable by their dark brown fur, which has four white markings: a stripe around the neck, one around the end of the body and a circular mark on each side of the body that surrounds the forefins. The contrast is particularly strong in the males, while in females the color difference between light and dark areas is often less noticeable. Newborn tape seals are solid white; as juvenile seals, they are gray in color; Over the years, some areas become darker and others lighter, and the typical pattern only developed at the age of four.
Tape seals are about 150 cm long and 90 kg heavy.
habitat
Band seals inhabit the arctic parts of the Pacific , especially the Bering Sea . They live on the drift ice and pack ice and almost never come to the coast.
Way of life
The diet consists of fish, cephalopods and crustaceans; young seals mostly eat crustaceans. Tape seals are solitary and do not form flocks. Young are born on the ice in April or May, suckled for four weeks, and then abandoned. The young will stay on the ice for a few more weeks, during which time they will lose their previously thick, white fur and drastically lose weight. Then it is able to dive and hunt independently. Banded seals are sexually mature at four to five years of age and their life expectancy is thirty years.
protection
Young animals are like young harp seals , the white ribbon seal skin of the young animal was once made into fur. However, because they do not form flocks, band seals have always been more difficult to catch than harp seals. The populations have recovered since the Soviet Union restricted the hunt for banded seals in 1969. Extensive hunting from boats did not stop until the early 1990s. Population size estimates over the past 30 years range from 230,000 to 750,000 specimens. Due to the uncertainties about the size and development of the population, the band seal is listed by the IUCN in the category DD ( Data Deficient ).
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1999, ISBN 0801857899 .
Web links
- Histriophoca fasciata in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2010. Posted by: Burkanov, V. & Lowry, L., 2008. Accessed March 19, 2011th