The Strangest Seal Species and Their Jaw-Dropping Abilities

Want to restore the planet’s ecosystems and see your impact in monthly videos? The first 100 people to join Planet Wild with my code PASSIONATE10 will get the first month for free at: https://planetwild.com/r/kpassionate/... If you want to get to know Planet Wild better first, check out their project rescuing seal pups: https://planetwild.com/r/kpassionate/m30 00:00 - KPassionate 01:22 - Seal Pups and Their Incredible Moms 03:02 - Rescuing Endangered Seals 05:17 - How Long Can Seals Hold Their Breath? 05:58 - How Deep Can Elephant Seals Dive? 08:06 - Leopard Seals Are Apex Predators 09:58 - Hawaiian Monk Seals Rescuing and rehabilitating stranded marine mammals has always been important to me, and rescued and rehabilitated seal pups are excellent candidates for release. Seals have special adaptations that help them quickly develop the survival skills necessary for swimming, diving, and foraging on their own in the ocean. Their large eyes have flattened corneas that allow them to take in more light in darker conditions. Their whiskers, or vibrissae, are highly sensitive and can detect subtle vibrations and water disturbances left by swimming prey, allowing them to track fish and other animals even in murky or dark conditions. Studies have shown that harbor seals can follow a hydrodynamic trail that is up to 35 seconds old using just their whiskers. The Hawaiian monk seal is one of the most endangered marine mammals in the world, with only 1,600 individuals remaining. Three Arctic ice seals, the hooded, bearded, and harp seals, were added to the IUCN’s Red List of Endangered Species. The primary reason is because of habitat loss, specifically a loss of their breeding grounds. Hawaiian monk seals haul out on Hawaiian beaches to breed and give birth, but these beaches and haul out sites are diminishing because of coastal development, rising sea levels, and dangerous interactions with humans. And this video discusses how a loss of sea ice is affecting the breeding sites of hooded and gray seals, who are being swept out to sea and washing up on beaches hundreds of kilometers away. On the positive side, there are things we can do to help these endangered seals. The easiest things we can do is stuff like giving them space, keeping our beaches clean, and reducing plastic use Sources: [1] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/s... [2] https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia... [3] https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia... [4] https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia... [5] https://royalsocietypublishing.org/do... [6] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles... [7] https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/a... [8] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science... [9] https://www.oceannetworks.ca/news-and... [10] https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia... [11] https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2021/07... [12] https://kevinswildside.wordpress.com/... [13] https://whalescientists.com/crabeater... ------------------- Music Cody Martin - soundstripe.com Thumbnail Stanislav - stock.adobe.com Photoshopped by DoubleAgent XV Additional Images Planet Wild NOAA Fisheries USGS BBC Ocean Networks Canada Jerzy Strzelecki, CC BY 3.0    • Angry elephant seal attacks pickup truck      • Coastal Wolves of British Columbia.   JensKlingebiel - soundstripe.com hotelfoxtrot - soundstripe.com Longjourney - soundstripe.com cinejinn - soundstripe.com SkywardKick - soundstripe.com markoconnell - soundstripe.com icsnaps - soundstripe.com MediaWhalestock - soundstripe.com BlackBoxGuild - soundstripe.com natureguy - stock.adobe.com mzphoto11 - stock.adobe.com hhuntington2 - stock.adobe.com videodive - stock.adobe.com Silver - stock.adobe.com Katharine Moore - stock.adobe.com Tarpan - stock.adobe.com ImageBank4U - stock.adobe.com blackboxguild - stock.adobe.com Ali - stock.adobe.com Janet Muir/Danita Delimont - stock.adobe.com Joseph - stock.adobe.com lorenzoragazzi - stock.adobe.com Anton - stock.adobe.com slowmotiongli - stock.adobe.com videodive - stock.adobe.com Janos - stock.adobe.com Shamatha Pictures - stock.adobe.com aerocaminua - stock.adobe.com James - stock.adobe.com Shisu_ka - stock.adobe.com Glenn - stock.adobe.com Stov - stock.adobe.com mozgova - stock.adobe.com Thomas - stock.adobe.com JAG IMAGES - stock.adobe.com Seal, seals, seal rescue, seal pup rescue, marine mammal, marine mammals, leopard seal, seals, hooded seal, crabeater seal, leopard seal documentary, elephant seal, sea leopard #kpassionate #seals #leopardseal