This ornately-patterned marine mammal inhabits frigid waters in the Arctic. It can dive as deep as 1,968 ft (600 m) in search of food such as crustaceans, fish, and cephalopods!
A baby seal at the Chene rescue centre in Allouville-Bellefosse, near Le Havre, France. The centre rescues and rehabilitates wildlife in distress. Stranded seals are cared for until they are big enough to be safely released back into the sea.
An old university friend co-authored this paper by Williams et al. on persistent organic pollutants found on #whales#Dolphins#Seals around the UK.
I remember talking with him about it a few years ago - great to see it out but goodness how depressing, really good science in a wel-surveyed population, makes me wonder about the #Cetaceans we don't know about?
"The researchers outlined guidelines for governments to provide long-distance larval drifters, like #urchins and #lobsters, as well as #MigratorSpecies, like #turtles and #sharks, with protected stopovers along coastal corridors. "
"The turbines’ seabed foundations, bolstered by rock piles around the masts, function as artificial #reefs upon which flora and #crustacea thrive, which then are consumed by #fish, #porpoises, and #seals.
Marine scientists have found that these #RenewableEnergy parks can serve as sprawling #MarineSanctuaries, some of them as vast as 80 square kilometers (31 square miles) in size."
Just found out there is a version of the Iliad where, after the death of Achilles, his mother Thetis turns into a seal and takes revenge by hunting down Helen.
There is an ancient Greek horror story hidden in there somewhere, about Helen being hunted by a vengeful pinniped...