Animal profile

Hooded Seal

Cystophora cristata

MammaliaDeep North Atlantic and Arctic waters with drifting pack iceVulnerable

Field profile

The hooded seal is a large, deep-diving North Atlantic seal whose males inflate an elastic nasal sac and a bright red nasal membrane in display. It breeds on drifting pack ice. Its pups are weaned faster than those of any other mammal.

Published field notes

2024-08-05

Hooded Seal

The hooded seal weans its pup in four days

No mammal weans faster. A hooded seal pup nurses for about three to five days on milk of extreme fat content, roughly doubling its mass, and is then left on the ice while the mother departs to mate.

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