Crabeater Seal
The Crabeater Seal comes from the sea lion family but actually it doesn’t eat crab! It was misnamed when explores came to Antarctica and saw krill tails and thought it was crab. The Crabeater Seal scientific name is labodon carcinophagus.
Diagram
The Crabeater Seal has a very interesting appearance it has a slender body and has fur that is brown in winter and transforms into a white-ish blonde colour in summer. The animal is 2 meters long. The back fin is elevated to avoid it from dragging.
Swimming
The Crabeater Seal is agile (fast) on land but slow in the water. It can travel as fast 25 km ph on the land. Their flippers are one of the main things the seal uses to swim and move. Unlike any other animal, Crabeater Seals do not migrate north in winter choosing to stay in Antarctica.
Antarctica
The Crabeater Seal lives mainly on the pack ice or ice floes. The Crabeater Seal also lives in the water. It also lives under the ice sheet but comes up for air when needed. The Crabeater Seal spends a lot of time sleeping but can swim to hunt or escape predators.
Food Chain
The Crabeater Seals diet is alike many animals in the Antarctic region as it relies mainly on krill. When krill is scarce the seal will eat fish and squid. Being in the middle of the food chain, there isn’t much to eat but krill, fish and squid. Above the Crabeater Seal in the food chain is the leopard seal and the orca. These animals prey on the Crabeater and they and human’s are the Crabeater Seals most common predators.
Baby Crabeater
The female Crabeater Seal undergoes many changes when it goes trough pregnancy; breeding is a very busy time.In the first month of being pregnant the seal will not eat.When the pup is born the mother will feed it thick oil milk. the pup will grow five times its size in the first month. It is born about 20kg and only one month later it can weigh up to 110kg.
The Crabeater Seal is an amazing creature. It must be protected because of its vital role in the food chain. If taken away, the entire ecosystem of Antarctica will be disrupted.