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  1. Humans hunt Harbor seals for their blubber, meat, skin, and fur. They are threatened by being tangled in fishing nets, especially in gillnets. They are sometimes killed by getting trapped in intake pipes in US power plants.

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      Harp seals are solitary creatures except during the mating...

    • Adaptations
    • Predators
    • Conservation Status
    When underwater, harbor seals stop breathing so that their heart rate decreases leading to the conservation of energy. Also, they exhale before a deep dive which helps the oxygen accumulate into th...
    Their four flippers assist them to move around in the water, with the hind pair propelling them forward, and the front two helping them steer themselves.
    A higher metabolic rate compared to mammals of a similar size helps them produce body heat to keep their bodies warm.
    A thick blubber helps harbor seals keep themselves insulated, thus decreasing heat loss.

    Killer whales (orcas), white sharks and polar bears prey on harbor seals. Coyotes sometimes hunt common seals when they are on land.

    IUCN has listed the harbor seal under their ‘Least Concern’ category. Their total population is estimated to be around 350,000-500,000 individuals.

    • Mammalia
    • Chordata
    • Carnivora
  2. Apr 29, 2019 · The biggest threats to harbor seals besides natural predators like sharks are human-caused, including entanglement with fishing gear, excessive boat traffic near nursery sites, water pollution, and habitat destruction.

  3. Harbor seals are very sensitive to human encroachment and may be forced to abandon an ideal habitat for one less suitable to their well-being. Along with human pressures come pollution and other types of habitat degradation that can have negative influence on species viability.

  4. www.fisheries.noaa.gov › species › harbor-sealHarbor Seal - NOAA Fisheries

    Apr 19, 2022 · Harbor seals are one of the most common marine mammals along the U.S. West and East Coasts. They are commonly seen resting on rocks and beaches along the coast and on floating ice in glacial fjords with their head and rear flippers elevated in a “banana-like” position.

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  6. Oct 16, 2020 · Some human cultures have hunt the occasional seal for survival in colder climates, but the real threat to harbor seals came with the industrial revolution and new technologies. Harbor seals were seen as a threat to fisheries, especially in the U.S., which led to seal culling in large numbers.