{"id":7441,"date":"2011-04-26T15:44:48","date_gmt":"2011-04-26T19:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/wildwire\/?p=7441"},"modified":"2016-11-03T09:51:01","modified_gmt":"2016-11-03T13:51:01","slug":"the-amazing-inflatable-seal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/omg_animals\/the-amazing-inflatable-seal\/","title":{"rendered":"Male Hooded seals attract females by inflating a sac above their nose"},"content":{"rendered":"

Male Hooded seals (Cystophora cristata<\/em>) are inflatable! Well a sac above their nose is anyway. When this sac is blown up it covers their nose like a hood (that\u2019s where they get their name from). This sac looks like a red balloon and it is quite an extravagant sight that males will use to attract females and possibly threaten other males. Can\u2019t imagine what a seal would look like with a red balloon on its face? Check out this picture<\/a> to see what we mean.<\/p>\n

\"hooded
Hooded Seal. Photo credit: Sea Mammal Research Unit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What\u2019s the deal with the Hooded seal?<\/h2>\n

Hooded seals hangout around Bear Island, Norway, Iceland and northeast Greenland, this map <\/a>shows just where these seals call home. Hooded seals usually spend time on their own but they come together for breeding and molting. They are able to dive as deep<\/a> as 100m and dives have been recorded that lasted over 30 minutes! These amazing swimming skills come in handy when they are on the move following a yearly migration<\/a> that keeps them close to drifting patches of ice. Hooded seals also have the shortest nursing period of any mammal<\/a>, 5-12 days. In this short amount of time pups will double in size while the mom loses 7-10kg every day! Today Hooded seals that live in the northwest Atlantic have fairly stable populations but the northeastern Atlantic seals have seen their numbers drop by 85-90% over the last 40-60 years. To help out the Hooded seal learn more about how your actions have an impact on species that live in the North<\/a> or start spreading the word about protecting animals and their habitats with your Bring Back the Wild Campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.eol.org\/pages\/328632<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.iucnredlist.org\/apps\/redlist\/details\/6204\/0<\/a><\/p>\n

Earth Rangers<\/a> is a non-profit organization that works to inspire and educate<\/a> children about the environment. At EarthRangers.com kids can play games<\/a>, discover amazing facts<\/a>, meet animal ambassadors<\/a> and fundraise<\/a> to protect biodiversity<\/a>.<\/em><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Male Hooded seals have sacs above their nose that, when blown up, look like a red balloon! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,409,931],"tags":[342,305],"class_list":["post-7441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-omg_animals","category-omg-facts","category-all","tag-north","tag-seal"],"pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t