How big does a Harp seal get? Here is an overview over the average adult age:
A grown Harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus) reaches an average size of 1.72 meter (5′ 8″).
When born, they have an average size of 0 cm (0′ 0″). During their lifetime of about 42 years, they grow from 10.05 kg (22.15 lbs) to 132.25 kg (291.56 lbs). A Harp seal has 1 babies at once. The Harp seal (genus: Pagophilus) is a member of the family Phocidae.
As a reference: Humans reach an average body size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) while carrying 62 kg (137 lbs). A human woman is pregnant for 280 days (40 weeks) and on average become 75 years old.
The harp seal also known a saddleback seal or Greenland Seal, (Pagophilus groenlandicus) is a species of earless seal, or true seal, native to the northernmost Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean. Originally in the genus Phoca with a number of other species, it was reclassified into the monotypic genus Pagophilus in 1844. In Latin, its scientific name translates to “ice-lover from Greenland,” and its taxonomic synonym, Phoca groenlandica translates to “Greenlandic seal.”
Animals of the same family as a Harp seal
We found other animals of the Phocidae family:
- Harbor seal with a size of 1.61 meter (5′ 4″)
- Ringed seal with a size of 1.29 meter (4′ 3″)
- Hooded seal with a size of 2.33 meter (7′ 8″)
- Northern elephant seal with a size of 3.72 meter (12′ 3″)
- Ross seal with a size of 2.07 meter (6′ 10″)
- Harp seal with a size of 1.73 meter (5′ 9″)
- Crabeater seal with a size of 2.28 meter (7′ 6″)
- Ribbon seal with a size of 1.53 meter (5′ 1″)
- Ribbon seal with a size of 1.54 meter (5′ 1″)
- Grey seal with a size of 2.08 meter (6′ 10″)
Animals with the same size as a Harp seal
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Harp seal:
- Hartebeest with a size of 1.98 meter (6′ 6″)
- Impala with a size of 1.42 meter (4′ 8″)
- Vicuña with a size of 1.58 meter (5′ 3″)
- Harp seal with a size of 1.73 meter (5′ 9″)
- Subantarctic fur seal with a size of 1.63 meter (5′ 4″)
- Common tsessebe with a size of 1.7 meter (5′ 7″)
- American black bear with a size of 1.38 meter (4′ 7″)
- Gerenuk with a size of 1.5 meter (5′ 0″)
- Barbary sheep with a size of 1.45 meter (4′ 10″)
- Bighorn sheep with a size of 1.57 meter (5′ 2″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Harp seal
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (1) as a Harp seal:
- Wahlberg’s epauletted fruit bat
- Ear-spot squirrel
- Mongolian gazelle
- Commerson’s roundleaf bat
- Woodlark cuscus
- Beluga whale
- New Caledonia blossom bat
- Smoky pocket gopher
- East Caucasian tur
- Lowland mosaic-tailed rat
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Harp seal
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Harp seal:
- Ringed seal with an average maximal age of 46 years
- Harbor seal with an average maximal age of 40 years
- Indian rhinoceros with an average maximal age of 49 years
- Common genet with an average maximal age of 34 years
- Tufted capuchin with an average maximal age of 45.08 years
- Asian black bear with an average maximal age of 35.17 years
- Humboldt’s white-fronted capuchin with an average maximal age of 44 years
- Cat with an average maximal age of 34 years
- Short-beaked echidna with an average maximal age of 50 years
- Bactrian camel with an average maximal age of 40 years
Animals with the same weight as a Harp seal
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Pagophilus groenlandicus:
- Dusky dolphin with a weight of 127.25 kilos (280.54 lbs)
- Striped dolphin with a weight of 142.05 kilos (313.17 lbs)
- Spectacled bear with a weight of 123.09 kilos (271.37 lbs)
- Giant panda with a weight of 118 kilos (260.15 lbs)
- Common tsessebe with a weight of 133.5 kilos (294.32 lbs)
- Eastern gorilla with a weight of 149.33 kilos (329.22 lbs)
- Hourglass dolphin with a weight of 110 kilos (242.51 lbs)
- Bluebuck with a weight of 150 kilos (330.69 lbs)
- Schomburgk’s deer with a weight of 107.63 kilos (237.28 lbs)
- Peale’s dolphin with a weight of 120 kilos (264.55 lbs)