Scientific Classification

• The scientific name for Weddell seals is Leptonychotes weddellii. Placed in the true seal or mammalian family Phocidae, they have the typical seal characteristics of a streamlined body, do not have external ear pinna and cannot walk on their flippers like sea lions or eared seals can. They move on land by wiggling their body.
  
  

Physical Description

• Weddell seals weigh between 800 and 1,320 pounds and reach lengths of 8 to 11.5 feet, reports the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. These seals are gray to brown in color. Their backs are darker than their bellies. The fins are exceptionally short, even for a true seal. Males are smaller than the females.
  
  

Diet

• Weddell seals eat fish, krill, crustaceans and octopi. The physiology of the Weddell seal makes foraging for food underwater for extended periods of time possible. The Encyclopedia of Mammals states, “a Weddell seal has been timed in a dive lasting 73 minutes in the wild.” This is possible because of their high blood volume, which contains more hemoglobin than a typical mammal and carries oxygen to various parts of the body.
  
  

Habitat

• Weddell seals live in what is called “fast ice,” which is ice attached to land or otherwise does not move off the coast of Antarctica. They commonly range as far north as the islands off the southern tip of South America. The Encyclopedia of Mammals reports they have also been spotted in the waters off the coast of New Zealand and Australia.
  
  

Life Cycle

• During breeding, which occurs in November and December, males will aggressively defend a section of water from other males as their own territory to attract females. Females birth their young after a 9 to 10 month gestation, on the coastal ice of Antarctica where they nurse and care for them for about five to six weeks. Breeding begins around the age of four to eight and they have a lifespan of 25 to 30 years.