It is hard to guess what a Harp seal weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Harp seal (Phoca groenlandica) on average weights 132 kg (291.01 lbs).
The Harp seal is from the family Phocidae (genus: Phoca). It is usually born with about 10 kg (22.05 lbs). They can live for up to 42 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 1.73 meter (5′ 9″). Usually, Harp seals have 1 babies per litter.
As a reference: An average human weights in at 62 kg (137 lbs) and reaches an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). Humans spend 280 days (40 weeks) in the womb of their mother and reach around 75 years of age.
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:
- Bearded seal bringing 280 kilos (617.29 lbs) to the scale
- Ross seal bringing 208.63 kilos (459.95 lbs) to the scale
- Crabeater seal bringing 225 kilos (496.04 lbs) to the scale
- Spotted seal bringing 99.02 kilos (218.3 lbs) to the scale
- Southern elephant seal bringing 1600 kilos (3527.39 lbs) to the scale
- Hooded seal bringing 278.95 kilos (614.98 lbs) to the scale
- Northern elephant seal bringing 1116.2 kilos (2460.8 lbs) to the scale
- Mediterranean monk seal bringing 294.94 kilos (650.23 lbs) to the scale
- Ribbon seal bringing 90 kilos (198.42 lbs) to the scale
- Ribbon seal bringing 90 kilos (198.42 lbs) to the scale
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:
- Atlantic spotted dolphin with a weight of 110 kilos (242.51 lbs)
- Amazon river dolphin with a weight of 121.22 kilos (267.24 lbs)
- Siberian ibex with a weight of 130 kilos (286.6 lbs)
- Dall’s porpoise with a weight of 106.03 kilos (233.76 lbs)
- Marsh deer with a weight of 111.76 kilos (246.39 lbs)
- Giant panda with a weight of 118 kilos (260.15 lbs)
- Argali with a weight of 113.67 kilos (250.6 lbs)
- California sea lion with a weight of 137.6 kilos (303.36 lbs)
- Schomburgk’s deer with a weight of 106 kilos (233.69 lbs)
- Sumatran serow with a weight of 110.94 kilos (244.58 lbs)
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:
- Asian black bear with a size of 1.51 meter (5′ 0″)
- Calamian deer with a size of 1.39 meter (4′ 7″)
- Gemsbok with a size of 1.62 meter (5′ 4″)
- Mule deer with a size of 1.52 meter (5′ 0″)
- Dama gazelle with a size of 1.46 meter (4′ 10″)
- Black wildebeest with a size of 1.82 meter (6′ 0″)
- Dall sheep with a size of 1.42 meter (4′ 8″)
- Vaquita with a size of 1.52 meter (5′ 0″)
- Arctocephalus forsteri with a size of 1.71 meter (5′ 8″)
- Southern reedbuck with a size of 1.51 meter (5′ 0″)
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:
- Long-tailed fruit bat
- Little forest bat
- Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin
- Hammer-headed bat
- Kivu shrew
- Townsend’s mole
- Rodrigues flying fox
- Tonkin snub-nosed monkey
- Fraser’s dolphin
- Tickell’s bat
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Harp seal
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Harp seal:
- Spotted hyena with an average maximal age of 41.08 years
- Dromedary with an average maximal age of 40 years
- Pileated gibbon with an average maximal age of 36 years
- Toque macaque with an average maximal age of 35 years
- Diana monkey with an average maximal age of 37.25 years
- Grey seal with an average maximal age of 46.67 years
- Siamang with an average maximal age of 38 years
- Mandrill with an average maximal age of 46.25 years
- South American tapir with an average maximal age of 35 years
- Bowhead whale with an average maximal age of 40 years