FAQ

Yes, seals are ancestrally related to cats, dogs, otters and bears. Seals are always fascinated by dogs, perhaps because of their shared ancestry. Lots of seals have been reportedly injured by dogs, less so the other way round, so please always keep your dog on a lead. Even well behaved dogs who have never met a seal before may react out of character on their first encounter with a seal. Please err on the side of caution and keep your dog on a lead and well away from a seal. Dogs can pass diseases onto seals and vice versa, so keep both safe by maintaining a good distance between them!

Seals are curious more than friendly. They have to be to explore their marine and terrestrial worlds. Seals live solitary lives, only keeping the company of others on haul outs where they rest, digest, socialise, sort out their pecking order, moult and pup. Some seals seem very tolerant of each other on haul outs or in the shallows, playing with each other and interacting for hours. This does appear to be friendly. It is not natural for a seal to be friendly with a human, so please keep your distance, ideally 100m+

Like people, seals have a flight or fight response. Seals usually flight when they are scared or stressed by people, dogs, water or aircraft. Like puppies, young seals learn through play. Their sensitive muzzles and mouths enable them to explore their world. Like puppies they have sharp teeth, so accidents can easily happen. Wild swimmers sometimes encounter particularly friendly young wild seals. If a young seal spots you in the water, they may approach. Please take care and avoid all contact especially if not wearing a wetsuit. Our best advice is to err on the side of caution. If in doubt, please consider getting out. Remember you are in their home, they are wild animals with big teeth and powerful jaws, so need your respect.

Oh yes they do, even from a few days old. Seals lose their baby teeth before they are born. They are gummy when born, but within just a few days they have sharp spikey teeth. They have the same type of teeth as us – canines, incisors and molars. But their molars are spikey, so they cannot chew, nor can they bite through nets, contrary to popular belief. If seals are bycaught and try to bite their way out of the net, all that happens is they cut their gums and break their teeth before suffocating because they breath hold underwater and so eventually run out of oxygen.

Yes, seals are marine mammals. Unlike other marine mammals, however, seals don’t just live in the sea, they live on land too. Seals spend around 20% of their lives on land. This makes them vulnerable to more human impacts than other marine mammals, particularly disturbance, rising sea levels and pollution.

Seals do not breathe underwear, instead they breath hold whilst underwater. Like all mammals they need to breath air and most return to the surface to do this. They can sleep underwater on the seabed, but must rise to the surface to breathe. The deeper the dive the longer they must spend at the surface replenishing their oxygen supplies.

Yes UK native seal species can survive in salty sea water and also in freshwater rivers. There are three seal species around the world that live exclusively in freshwater lakes: Baikal seals, Ladoga ringed seals and Saimaa ringed seals.

No, seals get all the water they need from the food they eat. This is called metabolic water. A well fed seal will be well hydrated and have enough water to flush its eyes to keep them free from sand and from drying out.

Seals swim by opening their rear flipper and fanning them from side to side. Seals move over land by using their powerful shoulders to lift the front of their bodies and powering them forward, dragging the rest of their body behind them.

Unlike us seals can actually detect oxygen levels, so they know when they are running short of it. Humans can only detect carbon dioxide levels as a proxy for oxygen. Like us seals have a wind pipe (trachea) and lungs where gaseous exchange takes place. Unlike us they have an angled diaphragm that makes it easier for a seal to breathe out and push all the air out of its lungs before diving.

We only have two native seal species. Globally rare grey seals (that only live in the north Atlantic Ocean) and harbour seals (that live in all the northern hemisphere oceans). We do get occasional out or habitat vagrant seal species. These include harp, hooded, and ringed seals as well as walrus – all of these species come down from the arctic where they are being displaced by the loss of sea ice. A stella sea lion was even been recorded in Cornwall in the late 1990’s.

Seal pups drink milk from their mothers. After this they must teach themselves to catch fish. Grey seals are benthic (seabed) feeders and most of their prey is snatched and sucked down in one. Grey seals are known to eat more tonnes of sandeels and dragonets than any other single fish species. Harbour seals seem to be even more specialist sandeel feeders.

Seals live in a range of coastal and offshore habitats for example, beaches, coves, caves, rocky shores, offshore islands, sandbanks, estuaries and even on anthropogenic structures like buoys, pontoons, breakwaters and piers. They spend time on land every few days.

After they leave their mothers grey seals go on their post weaning dispersal phase for up to 18 months when they discover their ocean home and make a mental map of the sea. One seal was known to swim 1000km in its first 3 months. Others have dived to 280m. Most shallow dives means seals may only hold their breath for 4 to 10 minutes, but grey seals have been recorded diving for up to 30 minutes.

Seals can only drag their bodies across land as their rear flippers have hinged joints. Sea lions have rotational flipper joints so they can lift their whole body above the land and effectively walk on all fours. Seals have ear holes, but seal lions have ear flaps mainly because they live in warmer waters. Seals have smaller fore flippers and bigger rear flippers where all their power for swimming comes from. Seal lions use their bigger fore flippers to propel themselves through the water.

The UK has 34 to 38%of the world’s grey seals, yet there are still more red squirrels in the UK than grey seals. Seals can be seen all around the UK coast in a range of habitats from Somerset, Cornwall, the Channel Isles, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Sussex, Kent, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, East Riding, Yorkshire, Durham, Tyne and Wear, Northumberland, all around the Scottish coast, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and all around Wales. Basically if you keep your eyes peeled you can see seals all around the UK coastline!

No of course not…if they did they would all die out! Seals mostly eat small fish that are snatched and sucked down in one underwater. If they catch a bigger fish they must bring it to the surface to break it into smaller pieces to eat. They eat more tonnes of bottom dwelling sandeels and dragonets than any other single species. An EU research report shows that even a large reduction in the number of seals in Scottish waters would be unlikely to make any noticeable impacts on fisheries. Sadly unsustainable fishing takes around 96% of fish in the North Sea compared to seals.

A healthy flourishing seal population is an indicator of a healthy marine ecosystem. In fact, a healthy seal population is essential for a healthy marine ecosystem as they perform the top predator function working in all weathers, all year round to keep everything in balance and helping to provide resilience to the ecosystem – something human activity tends to destroy, but ironically depends upon. Like fishing profits, seal numbers are limited by fish availability – declining fish stocks results in declining profits and declining seal populations. Without fish seals die, so thriving seals means thriving fish and thriving fisheries. Without top predators ecosystems quickly spiral out of balance.

Seals and humans have co-existed since at least the Mesolithic.  Grey seals are a globally rare marine mammal, the UK’s equivalent to an African elephant which brings responsibilities for us to conserve them. Seals were the top wildlife attraction in the Isles of Scilly in a 2011 survey and are routinely listed in the top Scottish wildlife attractions that people flock to see. Seals feature in the top ten nature priorities on Cornwall’s Marine Nature Recovery Framework. Seals are a big tourist attraction. Fortunately seals are much more predictably and reliably sighted compared to cetaceans, allowing people to plan their businesses around this almost guaranteed attraction. Seals are vital to support our coastal economies (WCL Briefing) and many fishers end their careers diversifying into seal watching trips. Seals provide an ecosystem service for fisheries by helping to keep the marine ecosystem healthy and in balance. Sealsalso contribute to the health and wellbeing of locals and visitors alike, being a reason to get out and about, exercise, get fresh air and then smile when they see seals. So seals contribute to the triple bottom line in coastal communities around the UK.

The UK used to have 50% of the world population of grey seals and in 2025 this was down to 34 to 38%, so seals seem to be thriving better elsewhere in the N Atlantic (the only ocean they live in). Seals face a wide range of threats:

• Bycatch and entanglement in operational and lost fishing gear;

• Climate change impacts on seals: Warming seas affecting prey distribution; Extreme weather events inundating pupping beaches separating maternally dependent pups; Reducing fecundity following year; Groundswells increasing lost gear increasing entanglement rates; Groundswells disturbing pollutants and contaminants locked in the seabed; Ocean acidification; Toxic algal blooms (domoic acid); Rising sea levels flooding sea caves and haul outs; Increasing rates of coastal erosion with rockfalls injuring or killing seals; Heavy rain increasing disturbance. All seal haul outs in Cornwall will be lost in the next 50 years

• Disturbance by increasing coastal human activity from land, sea and air;

• Fish stocks being depleted, changing and shifting;

• Habitat loss through coastal squeeze and increasing marine activity;

• Persecution using variety of fatal and debilitating actions;

• Pollution in the form of light and sound as well as physical (macro and micro) and chemical outflows ranging from industrial, agricultural, transportational and household activities including emerging issues such as pharmaceutical runoff (e.g. painkillers and hormones);

• Marine carbon dioxide removal geoengineering projects

• Ocean Heatwaves causing toxic algal blooms that release neurotoxins that affect seals or create new pathogens and infections such as the mouth rot affecting harbour seals across the west side of the north sea.

• Celebrate and share the awesomeness of our native UK seals

• Make seal disturbance illegal and ‘Give seals space’ and stay 100m away wherever possible to let them rest and sleep in peace to help maintain their health

• Help begin creating artificial habitat to replace that lost as a result of rising sea levels and increased storminess

• Decarbonise our lives as much as possible to reduce our personal emissions

• Eat less, but local, line caught fish and pot caught shellfish and more effectively manage sustainable fisheries

• Use plant based cleaners and scourers in our kitchens and bathrooms

• Wear non plastic clothing or use microplastic trap bags when washing plastic clothing

• Eat a higher plant based diet and less carbon and methane emitting meat

• Ban flying rings and only use solid flying disc alternatives

• Access to, and engagement with, nature withing education

• Develop a circular economy and produce less waste

• Transition to net zero and use renewal energy

• Invest in ethical companies

Seal haul outs numbers in Cornwall have shifted from peaking in March to peaking in December and January. Seal pupping season has also shifted from most pups being born in October followed by November (up to 2016) and not most pups are born in September followed by August.  These are big and rapid phenology shifts showing how much our oceans are changing. For the last 8 years more seals have died in Cornwall than were born suggesting that they are struggling to survive the numerous threats they now face. Seals are routinely found entangled in lost fishing gear, bycaught in fisheries, killed by coastal weathering and erosion, have microplastics in their scats, stomachs, flesh even passing them onto their pups through their umbilicus and seals have high toxic burdens. All these issues will likely impact humans too, so we need to listen to these early warning signals bought to use by our seal sentinels.

Are all humans the same? Of course not and neither are seals! Each has a unique fur pattern, map of the ocean, visit pattern between sites, personality, behaviours and relationships just like us! Every seal is UNIQUE!

Grey seals have three seasons. The first is pupping season which takes place from August to January across the UK. In Cornwall the pupping season is August to November. After this adult females grey seals go into their catastrophic annual moult followed by adult males and lastly juveniles. This is when they regrow their entire fur coat. Old fur is brown because its structure has broken down and lost all the pigments. New grey fur regrows over a period of around three weeks and pushes the old brown fur out of their hair follicles. During this time the seals spend more time on land with their blood vessels open nearer the skin surface to enable fur regeneration. This is why seals are particularly vulnerable to disturbance at this time, as scaring them into the sea halts the fur regrowth. 15 seconds before diving seals prepare their bodies by pooling all their peripheral blood into their core. Without time to prepare their bodies for entering the sea they risk cold shock. This can extend the moult time and risk the individual seals entering an energy deficit spiral that can be fatal. Recently moulted adult grey seals do wash up dead in this season. Most adult grey seal deaths in Cornwall occur between September and February (the pupping and moulting seasons).

Grey seals have pups at different times around the UK. In Cornwall, pupping season has shifted dramatically since 2016. There used to be more pups born here in October followed by November and now it is September followed by August. SRT’s photo ID work shows that some individual mums are pupping on average 3.5 days earlier each year. Pupping now coincides with peak tourist season leading to an increasing number of mum and pup disturbances. Pups only feed from their mums for 15-21 days. Mums milk is around 60% fat, so a pup suckles around 17,000 calories every day that it feeds. A missed feed loses at least 1% of its maternal nutrition, so it only takes a few missed feeds from disturbance to mean the pup will die in its first winter. On the east coast of England pupping is much later with pups born in December and January. After pupping, mothers and their protective dominant male ‘Beachmasters’ begin their annual moult which is a second energetic heavy season in a row for them. Disturbance and wasted energy at this time can result in their premature death. Most adult grey seal deaths in Cornwall occur between September and February (the pupping and moulting seasons).

Seals swim an average of 4km an hour with top speeds of 25km per hour. Seals can swim 100km a day and SRT know of a juvenile seal and an adult seal who swam up to 100km a day for 4 and 3 days consecutively. Seals are a highly mobile marine species swimming between different national boundaries making conservation much more complex.

We actually don’t know. Some people think it is because they used to pup on ice camouflaging them from predators. This seems unlikely to us as we think they would have evolved out of doing this by now. In contrast SRT’s theory is that it makes the pups more visible to mums who must search for pups as they move around pupping sites during a tide cycle. We also think that the more dense, longer white fur also gives pups protection from wind chill when they haul out. Most people think white coats can’t swim, but in the SW UK they have to and can be competent swimmers from just 3 days old.

We actually don’t really know. The science says average life expectancy for males is 25 years and females 30 years. In partnership with Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s Marine Strandings Network and the Cornwall Marine Pathology Team, we know that many males die well before this (perhaps because of PCB toxins that build up in their bodies). We know from our photo ID work that we currently have females who are at least 30 years old and one male who is at least 28 years old. Basically SRT need to be doing at least another 10 years of photo ID to be able to give you a better answer to this question! Work in progress…watch this space.

For UK grey seals, there is really only one natural predator – the orca or killer whale. Some killer whales eat fish and others eat seals. Orcas are spotted around the UK coast and even in Cornwall, although this is a rare sighting. Having said this, seals are subject to multiple human induced (anthropogenic) impacts, some of which are ultimately fatal. These include:

• Declining food or prey depletion from unsustainable fishing

• Climate change induced storminess separating hundreds of seal pups from their mums in a single event, increasing coastal erosion and hammering rain and hail adding to disturbance from haul outs

• Habitat loss from at sea development and coastal squeeze

• Dead bycatch and live entanglement in fishing gear

• Coastal activity generated disturbance creating energy deficits

• Pollution in the form of light and sound, as well as physical (macro and micro) and chemical outflows ranging from industrial, agricultural, transportational and household activities including emerging issues such as pharmaceutical runoff (e.g. painkillers and hormones)

• Marine carbon dioxide removal geoengineering projects

• Ocean heatwaves causing toxic algal blooms that release neurotoxins (domoic acid) that affect seals or create new pathogens and infections such as the mouth rot affecting harbour seals across the west side of the north sea.

The UK has around 34 to 38% of the world population of grey seals, as they only live in the north Atlantic ocean. Despite having over a third of the entire global population in the UK, there are still more red squirrels in the UK than grey seals. More people live in Cornwall than there are grey seals in the world. The UK has 30% of the European harbour seal population, which is one of five global populations of harbour seals, all living across the northern hemisphere.