How big does a Weddell seal get? Here is an overview over the average adult age:
A grown Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii) reaches an average size of 2.55 meter (8′ 5″).
When born, they have an average size of 0 cm (0′ 0″). During their lifetime of about 25 years, they grow from 27.4 kg (60.4 lbs) to 400 kg (881.85 lbs). A Weddell seal has 1 babies at once. The Weddell seal (genus: Leptonychotes) 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 Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii) is a relatively large and abundant true seal (family: Phocidae) with a circumpolar distribution surrounding Antarctica. The Weddell seal was discovered and named in the 1820s during expeditions led by British sealing captain James Weddell to the area of the Southern Ocean now known as the Weddell Sea. The life history of this species is well documented since it occupies fast ice environments close to the Antarctic continent and often adjacent to Antarctic bases.
Animals of the same family as a Weddell seal
We found other animals of the Phocidae family:
- Caspian seal with a size of 1.41 meter (4′ 8″)
- Harbor seal with a size of 1.61 meter (5′ 4″)
- Caspian seal with a size of 1.41 meter (4′ 8″)
- Spotted seal with a size of 1.64 meter (5′ 5″)
- Grey seal with a size of 2.08 meter (6′ 10″)
- Crabeater seal with a size of 2.28 meter (7′ 6″)
- Baikal seal with a size of 1.27 meter (4′ 3″)
- Ribbon seal with a size of 1.54 meter (5′ 1″)
- Ribbon seal with a size of 1.53 meter (5′ 1″)
- Harp seal with a size of 1.73 meter (5′ 9″)
Animals with the same size as a Weddell seal
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Weddell seal:
- Red deer with a size of 2.14 meter (7′ 1″)
- Water buffalo with a size of 2.65 meter (8′ 9″)
- Onager with a size of 2.25 meter (7′ 5″)
- Short-beaked common dolphin with a size of 2.44 meter (8′ 1″)
- Amazon river dolphin with a size of 2.12 meter (7′ 0″)
- Common bottlenose dolphin with a size of 2.83 meter (9′ 4″)
- Caribbean monk seal with a size of 2.29 meter (7′ 7″)
- Rough-toothed dolphin with a size of 2.44 meter (8′ 1″)
- Spinner dolphin with a size of 2.13 meter (7′ 0″)
- Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin with a size of 2.37 meter (7′ 10″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Weddell seal
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (1) as a Weddell seal:
- Tana River mangabey
- Mashona mole-rat
- Four-toed elephant shrew
- Black-flanked rock-wallaby
- Greater noctule bat
- Big hairy armadillo
- Eastern woolly lemur
- Dwarf sperm whale
- Angolan talapoin
- Admiralty flying fox
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Weddell seal
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Weddell seal:
- Antarctic fur seal with an average maximal age of 23 years
- Egyptian mongoose with an average maximal age of 20 years
- Ursine tree-kangaroo with an average maximal age of 20.17 years
- Common wombat with an average maximal age of 26.08 years
- Northern plains gray langur with an average maximal age of 25 years
- Ross seal with an average maximal age of 21 years
- Black lemur with an average maximal age of 30 years
- Bechstein’s bat with an average maximal age of 21 years
- Red kangaroo with an average maximal age of 30 years
- Mantled howler with an average maximal age of 25 years
Animals with the same weight as a Weddell seal
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Leptonychotes weddellii:
- Leopard seal with a weight of 352.84 kilos (777.88 lbs)
- Moose with a weight of 471.45 kilos (1039.37 lbs)
- Plains zebra with a weight of 400 kilos (881.85 lbs)
- Horse with a weight of 401.8 kilos (885.82 lbs)
- Risso’s dolphin with a weight of 387.25 kilos (853.74 lbs)
- Amazonian manatee with a weight of 418 kilos (921.53 lbs)
- West Indian manatee with a weight of 467.16 kilos (1029.91 lbs)
- Grévy’s zebra with a weight of 405.5 kilos (893.97 lbs)
- Pygmy sperm whale with a weight of 431.25 kilos (950.74 lbs)
- Steller sea lion with a weight of 383.23 kilos (844.88 lbs)