BEARDED SEAL FACTS
Description
The Bearded Seal lives in the arctic near pack ice. It is gray or brown, with darker back and paler underside. They have a large, wide muzzle with long white whiskers, and small close set eyes.
The bearded seal, Erignathus barbatus (Erxleben, 1777), named for its long whiskers, reaches 2.1-2.4 m in length and weighs between 200-250 kg. In some regions, females appear to be slightly larger than males (sexually dimorphic).
The Bearded Seal is found in (but not necessarily limited to) the United States of America. It has a simple stomach, as all Carnivora's do. Carnivora's in general are distributed world-wide.
Diet The bearded seal uses its sensitive whiskers to locate prey like fish, crabs, shrimp, clams and snails.
Life Cycle The bearded seal mates in May. Groups of up to 50 bearded seals may gather together.
Bearded Seal
Order: Carnivora
Family: Phocidae
Erignathus barbatus - adult on ice floe, juvenile in water
Click to enlarge. (47 kb) ...
Bearded seals have a gray or brown coat that is darker on their back than their underside. They are heaviest in the winter and early spring when they can weigh up to approximately 360 kg, although the largest they get is when a female is pregnant.
There are seven species of seals in Canada; the bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus), the grey seal (Halichoerus grypus), the harbour seal (Phoca vitulina), the harp seal (Phoca groenlandica) the hooded seal (Cystophora cristata), ...
Polar bears hunt ringed and bearded seals on the sea ice throughout the year. During the spring and early summer, polar bears capitalize on the ice seal reproductive cycle by breaking into seal dens located in snow drifts on the sea ice.
Bearded seals are taken less often than ringed seals, but are important prey items. Polar bears also eat harp seals and hooded seals, and they scavenge on carcasses of caribou, musk-oxen, whale, walrus (usually pups) and seal.
Bearded Seal Erignathus barbatus - Vagrant.
Hooded Seal Cystophora cristatus - Vagrant.
Harp Seal Pagophilus groenlandicus - Vagrant.
Walrus Odobenus rosmarus - Vagrant.
Pine Marten Martes martes
Stoat (Ermine) Mustela erminea
Least Weasel M.
They also eat bearded seal, harp seal and hooded seal. Young walrus are sometimes taken.
Carnivore. Ringed seals, bearded seals, walrus, and beluga whales.
Predators and Threats
Humans; effects of pollution (PCB's), and limited feeding opportunities due to shorter periods of hard freeze of the sea ice, as a result of global warming.
Wild: primary food is ringed seals (2nd is bearded seals), harp seals, hooded seals, & walrus & whale carcasses when available; in summer, also eat berries, crabs, plants, small rodents, seaweed, starfish, sea cucumbers, etc.
They eat not only more red meat (mainly ringed and bearded seals) than other bears, they also catch more live prey.
DIET Polar bears are the most carnivorous of all the bears and live almost entirely on ringed seals, and to a lesser degree, on bearded seals. They are also known to prey on young walruses and occasionally even capture narwhals and belugas.
Almost exclusively feed on ringed seals and to a lesser extent bearded seals
Also eat walrus, beluga whale and bowhead whale carcasses, birds, vegetation and kelp
Population ...
Adult polar bears need an average of 2 kg (4.4 lb.) of fat per day to maintain their weight. Their diet includes mostly ringed and bearded seals and also includes other seal species, walruses, narwhals, beluga whales, whale carcasses, fish, reindeer, ...
The small ringed seal and the larger bearded seal are circumpolar arctic species. Antarctic seals include the voracious leopard seal, which feeds on penguins and other sea birds, and the Ross, Weddell, and crabeater seals.
Ross's gull (Rhodostethia rosea)
Razorbill (Alca torda)
Sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis)
Puffin (Fratercula arctica)
Bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus)
Common seal (Phoca vitulina)
Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) ...
Monk seals tend to be dark brown to grayish brown on the dorsal side and lighter yellow to whitish ventrally. Pups of both species are blackish in color. Monk seals, along with bearded seals, ...
 See also: Walrus, Bear, Polar Bear, Whale, Lion
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