Male Hooded seals attract females by inflating a sac above their nose

Male Hooded seals (Cystophora cristata) are inflatable! Well a sac above their nose is anyway. When this sac is blown up it covers their nose like a hood (that’s 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’t imagine what a seal would look like with a red balloon on its face? Check out this picture to see what we mean.

What’s the deal with the Hooded seal?

Hooded seals hangout around Bear Island, Norway, Iceland and northeast Greenland, this map 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 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 that keeps them close to drifting patches of ice. Hooded seals also have the shortest nursing period of any mammal, 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 or start spreading the word about protecting animals and their habitats with your Bring Back the Wild Campaign.

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