How many baby Harbor seals are in a litter?
A Harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) usually gives birth to around 1 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 288 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 10.21 kg (22.51 lbs) and measure 77.1 cm (2′ 7″). They are a member of the Phocidae family (genus: Phoca). An adult Harbor seal grows up to a size of 1.61 meter (5′ 4″).
To have a reference: Humans obviously usually have a litter size of one ;). Their babies are in the womb of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks) and reach an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). They weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual, and reach an average age of 75 years.
The harbor (or harbour) seal (Phoca vitulina), also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinniped (walruses, eared seals, and true seals), they are found in coastal waters of the northern Atlantic, Pacific Oceans, Baltic and North Seas.Harbor seals are brown, silvery white, tan, or gray, with distinctive V-shaped nostrils. An adult can attain a length of 1.85 m (6.1 ft) and a mass of up to 168 kg (370 lb). Blubber under the seal’s skin helps to maintain body temperature. Females outlive males (30–35 years versus 20–25 years). Harbor seals stick to familiar resting spots or haulout sites, generally rocky areas (although ice, sand, and mud may also be used) where they are protected from adverse weather conditions and predation, near a foraging area. Males may fight over mates under water and on land. Females bear a single pup after a nine-month gestation, which they care for alone. Pups can weigh up to 16 kg (35 lb) and are able to swim and dive within hours of birth. They develop quickly on their mothers’ fat-rich milk, and are weaned after four to six weeks.The global population of harbor seals is 350,000–500,000, but subspecies in certain habitats are threatened. Once a common practice, sealing is now illegal in many nations within the animal’s range.
Other animals of the family Phocidae
Harbor seal is a member of the Phocidae, as are these animals:
- Weddell seal with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Ringed seal with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Northern elephant seal with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Southern elephant seal with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Caspian seal with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Ribbon seal with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Baikal seal with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Grey seal with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Ringed seal with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Ross seal becoming 21 years old
Animals that share a litter size with Harbor seal
Those animals also give birth to 1 babies at once:
- Long-fingered triok
- Leschenault’s rousette
- Short-footed Luzon tree rat
- Kivu shrew
- Thumbless bat
- Northern bat
- Schneider’s leaf-nosed bat
- Indian hare
- Silver-haired bat
- Hirola
Animals that get as old as a Harbor seal
Other animals that usually reach the age of 40 years:
- Tufted capuchin with 45.08 years
- Chacma baboon with 45 years
- Campbell’s mona monkey with 33 years
- Cuvier’s beaked whale with 36 years
- Dromedary with 40 years
- Grey-cheeked mangabey with 32.67 years
- Harp seal with 42 years
- Little brown bat with 34 years
- Pygmy hippopotamus with 43.75 years
- Black-and-white ruffed lemur with 32 years
Animals with the same weight as a Harbor seal
What other animals weight around 87.31 kg (192.49 lbs)?
- Wild boar usually reaching 84.49 kgs (186.27 lbs)
- Dall sheep usually reaching 70 kgs (154.32 lbs)
- Puku usually reaching 71.23 kgs (157.04 lbs)
- Short-beaked common dolphin usually reaching 79.29 kgs (174.8 lbs)
- Sitatunga usually reaching 75.28 kgs (165.96 lbs)
- Arctocephalus forsteri usually reaching 101.13 kgs (222.95 lbs)
- Mule deer usually reaching 84.31 kgs (185.87 lbs)
- Hirola usually reaching 79.13 kgs (174.45 lbs)
- Dama gazelle usually reaching 71.42 kgs (157.45 lbs)
- Kob usually reaching 79.77 kgs (175.86 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Harbor seal
Also reaching around 1.61 meter (5′ 4″) in size do these animals:
- Harp seal gets as big as 1.72 meter (5′ 8″)
- Anoa gets as big as 1.58 meter (5′ 3″)
- Eld’s deer gets as big as 1.65 meter (5′ 5″)
- Hirola gets as big as 1.6 meter (5′ 3″)
- Eld’s deer gets as big as 1.65 meter (5′ 5″)
- Pygmy hippopotamus gets as big as 1.6 meter (5′ 3″)
- Nilgiri tahr gets as big as 1.39 meter (4′ 7″)
- Leopard gets as big as 1.38 meter (4′ 7″)
- Asian elephant gets as big as 1.92 meter (6′ 4″)
- Philippine warty pig gets as big as 1.35 meter (4′ 6″)