As of: January 21, 2024, 1:10 p.m
Comments
Press
Split
A gray seal pup in the Norddeich seal station.
© Sina Schuldt/dpa
The whelping season for Germany's largest predators, the gray seals, is coming to an end - which means a lot of work for the two breeding stations on the coast.
The animals on Heligoland are multiplying so well that a record has now been set there.
Norddeich/Friedrichskoog - Shortly before the end of the gray seal breeding season, the two seal stations in Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Hostein have so far taken into care around 50 young animals.
There have already been around 30 small gray seals in the seal station in Friedrichskoog this birth season, and 17 pups are currently being fostered in the station in Norddeich, East Frisia, as the facilities announced upon request.
Meanwhile, a record number of gray seal offspring births has been set on Heligoland, as reported by the Jordsand Association - figures for gray seal births on the Wadden Sea coast are not yet available.
The Norddeicher station announced that its admission numbers were roughly in line with the long-term average.
However, the storm “Zoltan” before Christmas, which probably washed over some sandbanks, and tourism at the turn of the year were an “unfortunate combination” for the young animals, said the head of animal care, Tim Fetting.
The small seals are particularly susceptible to disturbances in their first weeks of life.
Unlike baby seals, they cannot swim at first with their white, long-haired baby fur; they only go into the water after they change their fur.
The offspring of Germany's largest predators are born between November and January.
The strictly protected animals can grow up to 2.5 meters long and weigh 300 kilograms when fully grown.
Peak number of gray seal births on Heligoland
On Heligoland, good initial conditions ensured a new birth record: In the 2023/24 whelping season, 793 young animals were recorded on the beaches of the offshore island in one day, as Damaris Buschhaus from the Jordsand Association told the German Press Agency.
“So far, a higher number of births has not been recorded on the Helgoland Dune in any winter.” The gray seals use all three beaches on the dune - the small neighboring island of the main island.
A few young animals were also born on the main island.
According to Buschhaus, the dune is particularly suitable for gray seals because it has flood-protected beaches.
“In contrast to sandbanks in the Wadden Sea, which are flooded every day, normal high water still leaves the beach exposed.”
Lanugo fur soaks up water like a wool sweater when swimming
Gray seals are born with white lanugo fur.
This is relatively long and not water-repellent.
“You can imagine it as being similar to a wool sweater that gets soaked in the water while swimming and the weight of the animal also pulls it down over time.
The young gray seal can swim with it, but not for too long,” said Buschhaus.
It is a great drain on the young animal's strength, which it must first acquire.
My news
Jochen Bendel defends himself against the tenfold increase in dog taxes – read “Unable to be outdone in cheek”.
Four-year-old found dead in bed: child must have “suffered badly and made his presence felt” read
Protest participants hit by car and probably seriously injured
Photos of the current farmers' protests - strikes, blockades and traffic jams
Dispute over southern expressway expansion: police clear “Tümpeltown” read
Dispute over Südschnellweg: No more activists in Camplesen
“Therefore, gray seal cows seek out flood-protected beaches.
There they can give birth and suckle the young without being too influenced by the daily tide,” said Buschhaus.
During strong storms, the gray seals crawl up the beaches and dunes and lie protected from the floodwaters.
A sandbank does not offer this.
Miro and Toni are the first young animals in the stations
On December 23rd, Miro was the first small gray seal of the season to be taken in at the seal station in Norddeich.
The cub was discovered on a dike near Norddeich - without contact with its mother.
At only around 20 kilograms, he didn't have enough weight to survive on his own, as zookeeper Fetting said.
In the next two to three months, like the other young animals, it will eat up to the weight of around 40 kilograms that it would have had in the North Sea at the end of the nursing period.
The first young gray seal was admitted to the Schleswig-Holstein station in Friedrichskoog on November 25th, when it was around two weeks old.
The 18.9 kg female Toni from the Helgoland Dune still had the entire light-colored embryonic fur, but according to the seal station, she was not a classic howler because until then mother and young had been observed together and Toni was nursing.
However, Toni had not been able to gain enough weight at the end of the nursing period and was therefore brought to Friedrichskoog for further rearing.
Gray seals reproduce prolifically in the Wadden Sea
As an alleged competitor to fishermen, gray seals were almost wiped out in the North Sea over the centuries.
Since the 1980s, colonies have emerged again, such as on the Helgoland Dune.
Most gray seals in the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea live on the Kachelotplate, a sandbank between the islands of Juist and Borkum.
In recent years, gray seals have multiplied magnificently in the Wadden Sea and on Heligoland.
According to the latest information from the trilateral Wadden Sea Secretariat in Wilhelmshaven from July 2023, the number of young animals increased by an average of 13 percent over the past five years.
During the last count of adult gray seals in spring 2023, around 1,400 animals were counted on Heligoland and almost 1,200 animals in the Wadden Sea of Lower Saxony and Hamburg.
There were also around 170 gray seals in the Schleswig-Holstein part.
The total population was recently around 10,500 adult gray seals - the majority live off the Dutch coast.
dpa