CRAB-EATING SEAL

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25878, 10 August 1949, Page 6

CRAB-EATING SEAL

REMOVAL FROM ESTUARY

The wounded seal which sought refuge in the estuary during the Week-end has now been removed by the museum authorities to a place of safety. It will not be possible for the public to see it. The director of the museum (Mr R. S. Duff) and Mr F. Bennington, of the Marine Department, inspected the seal yesterday and decided that there was very little chance for its survival. They removed it to save it from ill-treatment by the public and to give it a chance of recovery if possible.

The task of moving the seal was no light one, as it is about seven feet long. Several bands were tied around its body, and a pipe was threaded through them. In this way it was possible to lift the seal on to a lorry. It was easily captured merely by muffling its head and roping it. “The ease with which this was done made it clear that the seal was very sick.” said Mr Duff.

One problem at present confronting the authorities is that of food. Because of its peculiar diet of tiny crustaceans and crabs which it feeds on in the Antarctic, it is not possible to find here any suitable diet for it. Mr Duff says that as far as can be determined without examining the seal’s teeth it appears to be an adult male crab-eating seal. The teeth of this seal, because of their peculiar cusp-like projections, provide an immediate means of identification, but the seal objects to having its jaws forced open for the examination.

The crab-eating seal scoops up food in mud from the bottom of shallow seas, or along the foot of submerged icebergs and floes. The arrangement of its teeth allows the water to strain out, leaving crustaceans, grit, and gravel, all of which the seal swallows. In the museum are three exhibits of typical Antarctic seals which were presented to the museum in 1904 by the first British Antarctic Expedition. They include the large mottled Weddell seal, the crab-eating seal, and the smaller Ross seal.