As I write this, snow is falling outside on a cold, wintery New England day. Beautiful to look at and fun to play in when all bundled up, but it’s nice to know that I can come in from the cold at any time. I am amazed by mammals and birds that survive in environments dominated by snow and ice- I can’t imagine prospering in a habitat where cold is an ever-present danger, and that goes double for aquatic mammals and birds who spend so much of their time immersed in a medium that can drain the heat from their bodies even faster than air.
In honor of the season and the ice-covered water rushing past my window which will eventually find the Atlantic, I’ll be looking at the situation of one of New England’s oceanic mammals, the harbor seal (Phoca vitulina). Pretty much everything that I know about this species (and that’s not much) comes from seeing it at the New England Aquarium: cute face, lives in water (obviously), present off the New England coast throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Beyond that I can imagine that they share some of the same problems facing other high-latitude aquatic mammals such as global warming, water quality, and competition with humans for certain resources. I’m sure there is much more to their story, so I’m going to spend the next few weeks getting a better sense of their present condition, past issues that have impacted these seals, and their prognosis for the future. Hopefully I’ll also uncover some ways for us to get directly involved in the conservation of this species and their compatriots in a cold, watery world.
A chilly topic, but hopefully only in terms of climate and not future prospects.