Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 05/11/2012 - 12:03
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Weddell Seals in the Ross Sea

Since the seals can only stay down under water a max of about 90 minutes do they always use the same hole for breathing or do they look for another hole as they are moving to another area?

Thu, 05/17/2012 - 11:56

Alex Eilers

What a great question!
While I was down there, I did see groups of seals go in and out the same ice hole during a single day. But using the same breathing hole year round may be difficult. We have to remember that throughout the year - sea ice is constantly changing – growing in the winter and shrinking in the summer. So because of this, seals tend to move with the ice as it expands during the winter and shrinks during the summer.
And here’s a bit more from Dr. Burns…
“The longest dives we have recorded for Weddell seals have mainly occurred in an experimental setting where the seals are restricted to diving and surfacing from a single hole. But remember this is recorded, so there may be others that we don’t know about. They can do what they want underwater, but must come back to the one hole to breathe- because we have put the hole in an area without other cracks or holes and transported the seal there. The really long dives seem to be the ‘exploratory’ ones where seals are looking for another exit. Of course there are a few really long ones in this scenario where the seals DO find another exit and so don’t return to our experimental hole.
In the wild, most dives are about 20 minutes long, and seals likely use a variety of holes and leads (cracks) to get in and out of the water and to breathe. A long dive in the wild is on the order of 40-60 minutes.”
Thanks again for your wonderful question!!!
Ms. Alex