Study Of Seals Neglected

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31586, 25 January 1968, Page 2

Study Of Seals Neglected

Seals were neglected as a field of zoological study because they were protected and could not be commercially exploited, Miss Judith E. King, of the natural history section of the British Museum, Ijondon, said in Christchurch yesterday. Miss King, who is an authority on seals, will present to the science congress in Christchurch a paper on the Ross seal of Antarctica. Although she would like to study the seals at close quarters she has found it more convenient to do her research with frozen seals in the British Museum. Most of her study has been of the anatomy of the seal, and her paper concerns the ways

In which the Ross seal differs from other seals. Her findings were a “bit too deep" for the layman, she said. Seals had been protected at the beginning of the century because they had been in danger of extinction. Today j one herd in Alaska was the main source of seal fur. I Both short-haired and fur seals could be used commer-

cially. Short-haired species ’ had smooth, hairy skins like I those of horses, and fur seals I were more like cats. Seals were not prolific breeders. Each cow had only

one pup each year, and the infant mortality rate was high. Sometimes the mother was lost at sea or the pup was stranded on the rocks and both were prey to their natural enemy, the shark. Although it would be possible to rear a baby seal in captivity it would be a risky undertaking. Seal milk was very fatty and was difficult to produce artificially. A baby seal of the type which lived on the coastline at Kaikoura would have to be fed an approximation of its mother's milk for six months, said Miss King. Seals in captivity had lived 40 years, but their life span under natural conditions would be shorter. In almost every species, the female seal was slimmer and sleeker. The bulls became very hairy and thick-necked as they aged. Miss King likes to meet other research workers in her

field, but she has found few in New Zealand. In the course of her work she has visited various Continental museums, and for the last year she has been studying in museums throughout Australia. Miss King has no idea why she decided to specialise in seals. She took up her study so gradually that she cannot remember "not being interested.”