By Alison Pearce Stevens, Ph.D.

Photos courtesy of Michael Cameron, NOAA Fisheries (MMPA Permit 684-1458)

At the bottom of the earth, Weddell seal pups learn to live in an icy world. This pup is about 10 days old.

In Antarctica, the long dark winter gives way to spring. Ice begins to melt, and the sun stays in the sky all night long.

Into this brightly lit world, the large gray head of a Weddell seal appears through a crack in the ice. The seal takes several deep breaths. Then she opens her mouth and turns her head from side to side. With her teeth, she scrapes off bits of ice. Seals are mammals, and they need to breathe air. So Weddell seals use their teeth to make sure their breathing holes stay open.

The seal makes the hole bigger. When she can fit her large body through it, she hauls out onto the ice. She is getting ready to have a baby.

Seals scrape holes in the ice with their teeth.

A Baby Is Born

On the ice shelf, the Weddell seal gives birth to a pup. The pup is about three feet long—the size of a two-year-old child. It is covered with thick fur that protects it from the cold wind.

The pup drinks its mother’s milk and grows quickly. Within a few weeks, it is more than six feet long. Beneath the seal’s skin is a thick layer of fat called blubber. Blubber keeps the seal warm in its frozen world.

When the pup is about two weeks old, it begins to dive with its mother. They slide through the breathing hole into the water below the ice. There the pup learns to swim, diving deeper and deeper each day. In order to stay underwater, it must learn to hold its breath and control its heart rate.

This newborn seal pup will have to learn to swim soon.

Below the ice, the sun shines brightly through the hole. Finding the opening to breathe is easy, but crawling back onto the slippery ice can be hard for a young seal. With practice and its mother’s help, the pup soon feels at home both on the ice and under it.

The young seal spends more and more time below the ice, where it learns to hunt for food. The mother shows her pup how to catch fish, squid, and octopuses. These are important lessons. When the pup is about two months old, it will have to feed itself.

As it grows, the young seal remains on and under the fast ice. Fast ice is attached to the Antarctic coastline. Here the pup stays safe from predators, such as orcas. When the pup becomes an adult, it will swim farther out in search of food. But it will always live on or under the ice.

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Read the passage above and tell whether the following sentences are true or false.

(       ) 1. Weddell seals use their nose to make sure their breathing holes stay open.

(       ) 2. The pup is covered with thick fur that protects it from being killed by other animals..

(       ) 3. Blubberis a thick layer of fat that beneath the seal’s skin.

(       ) 4.Crawling back onto the slippery ice can’t be easy for a young seal.

(       ) 5. The mother shows her pup how to catch orcas, squid, and octopuses.