Seals+-+Manh

Do they have any natural predators?
==== Choose three (3) species of seals and in detail discuss the similarities and differences between them. ====

SEAL IN ANTARTICA
====There are 35 type of seal live around the world but there are only 6 species of seals in Antarctica. There are Wedell Seal, Ross Seal, Leopard Seal, Crabeater Seal, Southern Seal and Antarctic fur Seal. This 6 species of seals have a special blubber to protect them from freezing.====

====Weddell Seal is a seal that can dive the deepest. They can dive 300 meters. And to make these dive possible, they carry five time the amount of oxygen in their blood. They always stay in a big group even though it's breeding season. During the breeding time, the male always stand up to protect the female. Unlike other seals, Weddell Seal prefer to lie on snow and ice even when open land and rock is available. Their life last for about 20 years. They feed on fish,squid and krill. Sometimes they blow air bubbles into cracked ice to find potential prey. Weddell Seal is afraid of killer whale but their main predator is humans. Their habitat is locate somewhere not to close to humans and water that have killer whale. They also use the water that doesn't have killer whale to hunt food.====

====Ross Seal have a body length between 1.7 and 3 m and they weight between 130 and 215 kgs. They have a slender body and a thick neck. They have dark grey -brown in colour and they have very large eyes. They can be found in the Antartic waters. Their breeding season goes for 9 months. Ross Seal can also live for 20 years. Ross Seal eat fish, squid and krill. They can dive to several meters to hunt food.====

====Crabeater Seal are the most numerous of the world's seals. There are over millions of Crabeater Seals. The female are bigger than the male. After the pups are born, a male will join and defend the female, waiting for his chance to breed. Sometimes they can be find in a large groups but are more likely found alone or in a small groups. They can be found in the Antarctic and Subantarctic water. I think you will say that Crabeater Seal eat crab, but no. Firstly, there are no crab in Antarctica. Secondly, they eat krill. They can live for about from 20 to 25 years, but a long time ago they can live for 40 years. ====

====Leopard Seal is the biggest seal and top predator in Antarctica. They have a body length between 2.5 and 3.2 m, they weight about from 200 to 455 kg. They have a silver/grey with some dark spot, which where their name come from. Leopard seal are very powerful in water, but they are shallow water hunter. They can not dive very deep like any other seals. But on the other side they have a very sensitive sight and smell make them a great hunter. Their habitat are found in the Antarctic and Subtarctic water. They stay in a small group during breeding season. Leopard can only live for 25 years. They attack penguins for foods, seals pup, birds, squid and krill.====

====Elephant Seal are the second biggest seal in Antarctica. They are 4.2 to 6 m big and they weight between 2 to 5 ton. People named him Elephant Seal because they very big. The male are 4 to 5 times bigger than the female. Their habitat is locate in the Antarctic and Subtarctic water. They only come up to breed and they spend the rest of their time in the sea. They can live for 23 years (average). Their breeding season goes from August to November. After the pup were, the pup weight up to 43 kg. They feed on fish and squid. They can dive to 800 m deep to find food. And also because they can stay underwater for 20 minutes, sometimes they can dive to 1500 m deep to find food. Elephant Seal hate killer whale and shark, such as great white shark.====

====Antarctic fur Seal have a body length between 1.2 to 2 m and the weight between 25 to 210 kg. When they are just pup, they have a colour black but as they grown up, their colour turn into grey/brown color and the female have a light colour chest. Their habitat is somewhere in the Antarctic and Subtarctic waters. They mainly eat krill, but they also eat fish and squid. They dive at night, dive to 30 to 40 m deeps, but they has been know to dive as deeps as 250 m. Their breeding season go for 12 month. Their predator is leopard seal. Leopard seal take Antarctic fur Seal as their prey. Antarctic fur Seal also know as Kerguelen Seal.====