The ringed seal is a mammal from the genus of common seals. He is also called akiba in the Far East. Due to their thick subcutaneous fat, these seals can withstand low temperatures, which allows them to settle in the Arctic and subarctic. In addition to the inhabitants of the northern seas, there are also freshwater subspecies that are found in the Baikal, Ladoga and Saimaa lakes.
Akiba’s appearance
Ringed seals are small seals ranging from silver-gray to brown in color. Their bellies are usually gray, and their backs are darker and have a noticeable pattern of small rings, thanks to which they got their name. The body is dense, short, covered with plush fur. The head is small, the neck is not long. They have large claws with a thickness of more than 2.5 cm, thanks to which they make holes in the ice and their burrows.
Adult animals reach a length of 1.1 to 1.6 m and a weight of 50-100 kg. As with all northern seals, their body weight varies markedly depending on the season. Ringed seals gain weight in the warmer seasons and lose weight significantly in winter and spring, after periods of breeding and annual molting.
Males are slightly larger than females, and in spring, males look much darker than females due to the oily secretion of glands in the muzzle area. It’s hard to tell them apart at other times of the year. At birth, the cubs are about 60 cm long and weigh about 4.5 kg. They are covered with gray fur, which is lighter on the belly and darker on the back. The patterns on the fur form with the age of the seal.
Habitat and habits
As mentioned above, the main habitat of these cute predators is the Arctic and subarctic. Throughout most of their range, they use sea ice exclusively as a breeding, molting, and resting place. They rarely and reluctantly come ashore. Ringed seals are excellent divers. They are capable of diving more than 500 m, although in the main feeding areas the depth does not exceed this mark.
They lead an isolated lifestyle. They rarely gather in groups, mostly during the mating season. Then in the coastal zone you can find rookeries of ringed seals, numbering up to 50 individuals. Their ability to create and maintain breathing holes in the ice allows them to live even in areas where other animals, also adapted to low temperatures, cannot.
Despite their good adaptability to frost, ringed seals sometimes face the challenges of the Arctic winter. In order to hide from the cold, they create lairs in the snow on the sea ice. Such burrows are especially important for the survival of the offspring.
Food
Outside of the breeding and molting season, the distribution of ringed seals is related to the availability of food. Numerous studies have been conducted on their diets, and despite significant regional differences, common patterns have been observed.
The main food of these animals is fish, characteristic of a particular region. As a rule, seals have no more than 10-15 prey species with 2-4 main species. Their food is small in size – up to 15 cm long and up to 6 cm wide.
Fish are eaten more often than invertebrates, but the choice depends on the season and the energy value of the prey. Usually, the ringed seal’s diet includes nutritious cod, perch, herring and capelin, which are rich in the northern seas. The use of invertebrates seems to become relevant in the summer and predominates in the diet of young livestock.
Reproduction
Female ringed seals reach sexual maturity at the age of 4 years, while males are only 7 years old. The females dig small burrows in the thick ice. The offspring are born after a nine-month pregnancy in March or April. As a rule, one cub is born. Milk feeding takes just over 1 month. During this time, the newborn gains up to 20 kg of weight. After a few weeks, they can be under water for 10 minutes.
After the birth of the babies, the females mate again, usually at the end of April. After fertilization, males tend to leave the expectant mother in search of a new object for copulation. The life expectancy of ringed seals in the wild, according to various sources, is 25-30 years.
Number
Estimates of the number of individuals and population trends for each subspecies are as follows:
Arctic ringed seal – about 1,500,000 individuals, the trend is unknown;
Okhotsk – about 45,000, the trend is unknown;
Baltic – 10,000 – 14,000, increased subspecies;
Ladoga – 3000-4500, the tendency to increase;
Saimaa – 150-200, increased subspecies.
Due to the large spatial scale, it is quite difficult to trace the exact number of subspecies of the Arctic and the Sea of Okhotsk. Many factors, such as the vast habitats, uneven distribution in the surveyed areas, and the unknown relationship between the observed individuals and those who were not observed, do not allow researchers to determine their exact number.
