The ringed seal (Pusa hispida) is an earless seal inhabiting the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. The ringed seal is a relatively small seal, rarely greater than 1.5 m in length, with a distinctive patterning of dark spots surrounded by light gray rings, hence its common name. It is the most abundant and wide-ranging ice seal in the Northern Hemisphere, ranging throughout the Arctic Ocean, into the Bering Sea and Okhotsk Sea as far south as the northern coast of Japan in the Pacific and throughout the North Atlantic coasts of Greenland and Scandinavia as far south as Newfoundland, and including two freshwater subspecies in northern Europe. Ringed seals are one of the primary prey of polar bears and killer whales, and have long been a component of the diet of indigenous people of the Arctic.
Ringed seals are the smallest and most abundant member of the seal family that live in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions. The average life span of a ringed seal is 40 years, with a diet based mainly on Arctic cod and planktonic crustaceans. Typically about 1.5 metres (5 ft) long, the ringed seal is known to be solitary with their main predator being polar bears. Recently, however, the biggest threat to ringed seals has been the changing temperature in the Arctic and the detrimental changes to sea ice that follow. With declines in snowpack and sea ice due to warming ocean and atmospheric temperatures, survival has become tougher for ringed seals in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions. Yet ringed seals are also potentially projected to thrive due to warming, considering the early extinction of their predators.
^Lowry, L. (2016). "Pusa hispida". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T41672A45231341. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T41672A45231341.en. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
^"Pusa hispida". NatureServe Explorer. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
The ringedseal (Pusa hispida) is an earless seal inhabiting the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. The ringedseal is a relatively small seal, rarely greater...
The Saimaa ringedseal (Pusa hispida saimensis, Finnish: Saimaannorppa) is a subspecies and glacial relict of ringedseal (Pusa hispida). They are among...
The Arctic ringedseal (Pusa hispida hispida) is a subspecies of ringedseals (Pusa hispida). Arctic ringedseals inhabit the Arctic Ocean, and are the...
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The Seal of Solomon or Ring of Solomon (Hebrew: חותם שלמה, Ḥotam Shlomo; Arabic: خاتم سليمان, Khātam Sulaymān; Turkish: Mühr-ü Süleyman) is the legendary...
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weight. The female seal is larger than the male, meaning that they are sexually dimorphic. Bearded seals, along with ringedseals, are a major food source...
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of ringedseal fall with any ban on any type of seal product, regardless of exemption. For example, in 1963, prices for high-quality pelts of ringed seals...
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They are mostly carnivorous and specialized for preying on seals, particularly ringedseals. Such prey is typically taken by ambush; the bear may stalk...
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doi:10.1038/d41586-019-01448-4. PMID 31065101. S2CID 256768064. "Saimaa RingedSeal". Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 22 December...
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Harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) Harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus) Hooded seal (Cystophora cristata) Grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) Ringedseal (Pusa hispida)...
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