Harbor Seal Pup with her Loving Mother
by Kathleen Bishop
Title
Harbor Seal Pup with her Loving Mother
Artist
Kathleen Bishop
Medium
Photograph - Photography, Digital Art
Description
Wildlife photograph capturing a newborn Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina) pup and its mom arriving on the beach in a protected seal rookery along the Pacific Ocean in Sonoma County, California. Mom seems to be smiling as she places a protective paw on her darling baby. These pinnipeds hauled out after a day in the water to sunbathe and sleep on the warm sand. Seal cows get little rest even on the beach, as their adventurous pups often decide to head back into the ocean just when their moms are settling in for a nap. The mothers have to chase after their pups and herd them back onshore before a predator finds them. These marine mammals are federally protected so their rookery is off limits to humans and their pets during calving season. Harbor seals' pregnancy lasts nine months but the fertilized egg does not begin to develop for two months, aligning birth dates to the same time each year. This seal colony returns each year to pup on the beach in a protected cove. Harbor seal pups are born along the Northern California shoreline in late April and early May and suckle for about a month before being weaned.
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Uploaded
May 23rd, 2014
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