Cystophora+Cristata

Order- Carnivora Sub-order- Pinnipedia (fin-footed mammals) Genus- //**Cystophora**// Species- //**C. cristata**// Family- **//Phocidae//**
 * Hooded Seal **

__**Endangered Species Act**__ //Ecosystem Location// //Physical Habitat//
 * Assessed in 2008
 * classified as Vurnable, believed to be caused by global warming
 * Hooded seals population in NW Altantic declined by 85-90%
 * __Description of Habitat__**
 * They are found in Greenland of the North Alantic Ocean and the Arctic Ocean.
 * Between Latitude 60 degree to 90 degrees North
 * //Tides:// High tides and low tides is about 50 difference
 * //Geologic process://
 * //Currents:// East Greenland current
 * //Salinity:// 34 PSS
 * //Temperature:// between -2 degrees and 14 degrees
 * Earthquakes?: glacier earthquake
 * Volcanoes?: yes, there are 12 of them. Mostly on the sides.
 * Sea floor spreading?: yes and it's one of the oldest
 * Subductiuon: yes

__**Migration Patterns**__
 * The hooded seals move between the Davis Strait in summer and their whelping grounds in late winter.
 * Their breeding grounds are: coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, of the east coast of Greenland, Gulf of St. Lawrence, and Davis Strait.
 * April to June, the individuals travel long distances to find food and later gather to moult on ice from June to August.

> > __**Hooded Seal Population Today**__
 * __Survival Trends__**
 * The hooded seal population has been decreasing. They are believed to be cause by globol warming.
 * estimated to be 650000

__**Appearance**__ -Males (Bull): measure 2.5-3m long, weighs 300-400kg. They have a movable, inflatable muscular bag streching from the muzzle behind the eyes. -Females: 2.2-2.4m long, weigh 160-230kg -Pups(blueback): measure 100-120cm long, weigh 10-15kg
 * SIZE:
 * Color: The coat is silvery grey/blue and covered in dark blotches. The pups' coat is blue-black on the back and a creamy white on the belly
 * Males have large inflatable nose (hood) and extrudable membrane in nostril. It can change from black to red. When two males fight, they vocalize at the same time by shaking the balloon violently, producing a loud “pinging” sound.

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> **__Food Web__**
 * __Reproduction__**
 * While the females mature between age 3 and 7, the male mature from 5 to 7.
 * Mating system: males pick a female-pup pair and stay for several days until the female accepted to mate and defends them from other males. The males would also use their balloon-like bag out of their nostrils to display for courtship to impress the females, which develops at age 4.
 * Pregnancies depend on the ice flows.
 * Pups are born in mid-March to early April and each mother have a single pup.
 * Pups are weaned for four to eight days which their mother had the fattest milk containing 70% fat. They gain 15 lb. each day.
 * The hooded seal's diet consists of squid, shrimp, mussels, starfish, herring and cod. They would dive over 1000m for more than 50 minutes.
 * Their predators are: killer whales, polar bears, Greenland sharks, and humans

> > **__Economic Importance of Species__**
 * __Anatomy__**
 * Male have a movable, inflatable muscular bag streching from the muzzle to behind the eyes. He would alternately inflates with air and allows to collapse, evidently a feature used in display to other males. Also, an orange-red nasal septum may inflate, balloon-like, out of one or other nostril.
 * The skull is massive with formidable incisors and canines and peg-like post-canine teeth.
 * thick layer of blubber to provide insulation, reserve energy and buoyancy
 * earless with no earflaps
 * flippers are fur-covered
 * walked on land by using their forelimbs and wriggling their body
 * pelts
 * fishery
 * food

> > **__Conservation Efforts__** > > > **__Cites__** > [|**http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Cystophora_cristata.html**] > [|**http://whale.wheelock.edu/whalenet-stuff/seal_factsheet2.html**] > [|**http://www.sealsandsealing.net/biology.php?page=1&id=5**] > [] > [] > [] [] []
 * __Threats and reason for endangerment__**
 * They are hunted for their spotted coats especially the pups' blue coat, for meat, and oil since the 1940s. Hunters used illegal weapons to clubbed the seals, dragging live seals across the ice, left them to suffer on ice before clubbing again, and left the carcasses on the ice. This way they could kill thousands of seals quickly in just one day. [[image:http://img.hexus.net/v2/lifestyle/misc/sealcull.jpg width="338" height="196"]]
 * They can be intangled to fishing nets.
 * Canadian Seal Hunt
 * Congress in the United States passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act in order to prevent from being hunted except by having a permit.
 * New England Aquarium, authorized by National Marine Fisheries Service, helped the sick, injured, and stranded hooded seal.
 * In Canada, the hooded seals are managed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, which gives annual hunting quotes, prohibit killing pups, and prohibit killing the adults during breeding season.
 * __Solution__**
 * do not catch a trillion pounds of fish where the hooded seals live
 * do not kill the seals while they are in their breeding ground
 * use less energy to prevent global warming
 * know more about their feeding habitats and behaviors
 * __Scavanger Hunt__**
 * 1) Why would hunters used illegel weapons to kill the hooded seals?
 * 2) When does mating occurs and how do males get the females?
 * 3) Hooded seal pups have the shortest period ever to be weaned because of the fat milk. True or False