How big does a Harp seal get? Here is an overview over the average adult age:
A grown Harp seal (Phoca groenlandica) reaches an average size of 1.73 meter (5′ 9″).
When born, they have an average size of 0 cm (0′ 0″). During their lifetime of about 42 years, they grow from 10 kg (22.05 lbs) to 132 kg (291.01 lbs). A Harp seal has 1 babies at once. The Harp seal (genus: Phoca) 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:
- Ringed seal with a size of 1.29 meter (4′ 3″)
- Caspian seal with a size of 1.41 meter (4′ 8″)
- Bearded seal with a size of 2.3 meter (7′ 7″)
- Baikal seal with a size of 1.27 meter (4′ 3″)
- Ribbon seal with a size of 1.54 meter (5′ 1″)
- Hooded seal with a size of 2.33 meter (7′ 8″)
- Crabeater seal with a size of 2.28 meter (7′ 6″)
- Ross seal with a size of 2.07 meter (6′ 10″)
- Ribbon seal with a size of 1.53 meter (5′ 1″)
- Spotted seal with a size of 1.64 meter (5′ 5″)
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:
- Alpaca with a size of 1.72 meter (5′ 8″)
- Hirola with a size of 1.6 meter (5′ 3″)
- Baiji with a size of 1.7 meter (5′ 8″)
- Marsh deer with a size of 1.72 meter (5′ 8″)
- Polar bear with a size of 2 meter (6′ 7″)
- Kob with a size of 1.7 meter (5′ 7″)
- Australian sea lion with a size of 1.8 meter (5′ 11″)
- Western gorilla with a size of 1.6 meter (5′ 3″)
- Guanaco with a size of 1.47 meter (4′ 11″)
- Caspian seal with a size of 1.41 meter (4′ 8″)
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:
- Koala
- Western broad-nosed bat
- Bay duiker
- Kloss’s gibbon
- Parma wallaby
- Barasingha
- Tenkile
- Hartebeest
- Greater grison
- Brown-throated sloth
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
- Crabeater seal with an average maximal age of 39 years
- Asinus with an average maximal age of 47 years
- Common minke whale with an average maximal age of 50 years
- Lar gibbon with an average maximal age of 40 years
- Bonobo with an average maximal age of 48 years
- Melon-headed whale with an average maximal age of 47 years
- Crabeater seal with an average maximal age of 39 years
- Asian black bear with an average maximal age of 35.17 years
- Beluga whale 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 Phoca groenlandica:
- American black bear with a weight of 110.75 kilos (244.16 lbs)
- Schomburgk’s deer with a weight of 107.63 kilos (237.28 lbs)
- Naemorhedus sumatraensis with a weight of 110 kilos (242.51 lbs)
- Hourglass dolphin with a weight of 110 kilos (242.51 lbs)
- Rough-toothed dolphin with a weight of 130 kilos (286.6 lbs)
- Atlantic spotted dolphin with a weight of 110 kilos (242.51 lbs)
- Southern right whale dolphin with a weight of 116 kilos (255.74 lbs)
- Schomburgk’s deer with a weight of 106 kilos (233.69 lbs)
- California sea lion with a weight of 137.6 kilos (303.36 lbs)
- Black wildebeest with a weight of 156.55 kilos (345.13 lbs)