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Animal Age

How old does a Crabeater seal get? (age expectancy)

What is the maximal age a Crabeater seal reaches?

An adult Crabeater seal (Lobodon carcinophagus) usually gets as old as 39 years.

Crabeater seals are around 270 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 20 kg (44.09 lbs) and measure 14 cm (0′ 6″). They are a member of the Phocidae family (genus: Lobodon). Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 2.28 meter (7′ 6″).

As a reference: Usually, humans get as old as 100 years, with the average being around 75 years. After being carried in the belly of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks), they grow to an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) and weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual.

A Crabeater seal gets as old as 39 years

The crabeater seal (Lobodon carcinophaga), also known as the krill-eater seal, is a true seal with a circumpolar distribution around the coast of Antarctica. They are medium- to large-sized (over 2 m in length), relatively slender and pale-colored, found primarily on the free-floating pack ice that extends seasonally out from the Antarctic coast, which they use as a platform for resting, mating, social aggregation and accessing their prey. They are by far the most abundant seal species in the world. While population estimates are uncertain, there are at least 7 million and possibly as many as 75 million individuals. This success of this species is due to its specialized predation on the abundant Antarctic krill of the Southern Ocean, for which it has uniquely adapted, sieve-like tooth structure. Indeed, its scientific name, translated as “lobe-toothed (lobodon) crab eater (carcinophaga)”, refers specifically to the finely lobed teeth adapted to filtering their small crustacean prey. Despite its name, crabeater seals do not eat crabs. As well as being an important krill predator, the crabeater seal is an important component of the diet of leopard seals (Hydrurga leptonyx), which are responsible for 80% of all crabeater pups deaths.

Animals of the same family as a Crabeater seal

Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Phocidae):

Animals that reach the same age as Crabeater seal

With an average age of 39 years, Crabeater seal are in good companionship of the following animals:

Weighting as much as Crabeater seal

A fully grown Crabeater seal reaches around 225 kg (496.04 lbs). So do these animals:

Animals as big as a Crabeater seal

Those animals grow as big as a Crabeater seal: