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Irish Seal Sanctuary'To Provide Shelter, Treatment and Rehabilitation for Rescued Marine Wildlife Found in Difficulty around Ireland's Coast' |
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Irish Seal Sanctuary'To Provide Shelter, Treatment and Rehabilitation for Rescued Marine Wildlife Found in Difficulty around Ireland's Coast' |
Frequent Asked
Questions - From the Mouths of Students! |
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| SEALS | ||
| What do Seals do? Seals are very important and intelligent marine mammals. They are one of the top predators in the sea. The Harbour Seal and Grey Seal are just two species of seals out of 34 in the world. They play an integral part in the food chain and functioning of the marine environment through their interactions with other marine wildlife and their habitat. They are part of a group called Pinnipedia which means flap-footed animals and are part of the family of 'True Seals'. They are part of Ireland's and the world's biodiversity. Check out www.noticenature.ie for information on Biodiversity. How old do Seals live? Seals can live from approximately 15 to 30 years of age. What do Seals drink? Harbour and Grey Seals do not drink water or juice as we would to keep hydrated. It would be especially dangerous if they were to drink sea water because of the presence of salt. They get their water from the food they eat. If they are not eating, they become dehydrated. Other species of seals have been known to eat snow to get freshwater to drink. Seals get rid of any excess salt in their bodies through higher concentration of salt in their urine. Do they have toes? Harbour and Grey Seals have 5 fingers and 5 toes on their front and hind flippers. Do they have ears? The Grey Seals and Harbour Seals are part of the family of True Seals that are also referred to as Earless Seals as they have no external ears but they have a hole on the side of their heads that are closable ears. They close them when diving. Examples of an eared seal with external ears are Fur Seals and Sea Lions. How do seals stay warm in the sea? Seals have a layer of fat beneath their skin called Blubber. This layer of Blubber keeps them insulated and warm in the cold waters. What do they make their houses out of? Seals do not have houses. They live outdoors all year round as they live at sea, foraging for food and on beaches, rocky outcrops and off shore islands along the Irish coastline. How long can Grey and Harbour seals dive for? They can dive for up to 15 minutes exploring the ocean depths. There bodies have adapted so that they have well developed breath-holding and diving abilities. True Seals blood has a higher concentration of haemoglobin and they are able to store oxygen in their body parts and reduce their heart rate during the dive. This allows them to stay underwater longer and explore. When are seal pups born in Ireland? The Harbour Seal pups are born between June and July often between the tides on sandy beaches. They can swim within a few hours of birth as they are born with their first adult coat. Grey Seals are born between October and November on isolated and secluded beaches around our coastline. They are born with their baby whitecoat and are unable to swim for approximately the first 3 weeks of their lives. During that time, they remain on land with their mothers. The seal pupping and breeding seasons are timed to coincide with the best environmental conditions particularly the weather and availability of food. Do the daddy seals help the mammy seals when she is giving birth to the baby seal? They are not involved with the birth of the pup or after during the lactation period when the pup is suckling from the mothers milk. They haul out on to land and do not eat like the mother during that time. The male seals are fighting for a dominant position in the group hierarchy so that they can breed with the females. Mating occurs after the mother has weaned the pup from her milk. Grey seals breed completely on land but Harbour Seals breed in the water so less is known about their behaviour. Have you ever had an elephant seal at the sanctuary before? There are no Elephant Seals around Ireland's coastline. There are two different species of Elephant Seal, the Northern Elephant Seal who lives off the Californian Coast and the Southern Elephant Seal who lives close to the Antarctic Pole and is the largest of all seals. Are Leopard Seals found in Ireland? There are no Leopard Seals found in Ireland. Leopard Seals are part of the group of Southern Antarctic Seals that live along the outer fringes of the polar pack ice in the southern high latitudes hauling out on to drifting ice and swimming in the open sea. They are solitary seals. AT THE SANCTUARY! Where are you hoping to put a new sanctuary? We hope to build a new sanctuary called the Marine Conservation Centre in Balbriggan, North County Dublin. How long do the baby Harbour and Grey Seals stay with the Irish Seal Sanctuary? They usually stay for about 3 months. During that time they are going through the rehabilitation programme and gain body fat required to survive in the wild. They are released back into the wild once they have been cleared by a veterinary examination. What age are most of your seals when they come in? They can range from a few days old to 2 years of age. How many times do you feed the seals? It depends on the needs of the individual seal i.e. What is their weight when they arrive at the sanctuary? How much weight do they need to put on? What is their illness? They would be fed generally approximately 3 times a day. Have any seals died while they were in the Seal Sanctuary? Any seals that have died at the sanctuary or en route during a rescue are bought to the University College Dublin (UCD) for a post-mortem. The post mortem tells us why they died. Seals have died because of numerous illnesses, their injuries and physical problems that they have suffered and endured. How old do you need to be to volunteer at the sanctuary? You would need to be over 18 years to volunteer at the sanctuary as you need to be strong and be able to care for yourself but we sometimes are able to take on transition year students for their work experience. Is the seal sanctuary open to the public? At the moment the seal sanctuary is not open to the public and is on private land. We do not have the facilities to cater for the public i.e. toilets and food area. Also we are caring for sick animals and do not want to cause any unnecessary stress to the animals as they would get frightened by a group presence. We will have those facilities in our new home. Do you ever get hurt when you are rescuing seals? No, the volunteers receive good training so they know how to pick up the seal pups safely and how to prevent any injures from happening. They know what to do if an injury such as a bite occurs. What is the Seal Sanctuary number? The Irish Seal Sanctuary phone number is 01-8354370 Do you have a website? www.irishsealsanctuary.ie |
Irish Seal Sanctuary |
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'To Provide Shelter, Treatment and Rehabilitation for Rescued Marine Wildlife Found in Difficulty around Ireland's Coast' |
Copyright 2000 by the Irish Seal Sanctuary. All rights reserved.