{"id":350984,"date":"2025-11-29T17:37:32","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T12:07:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=350984"},"modified":"2025-11-29T17:37:32","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T12:07:32","slug":"grey-seal-halichoerus-grypus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/grey-seal-halichoerus-grypus\/","title":{"rendered":"Grey Seal (Halichoerus grypus)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>News: <\/strong>A recent study found that grey seal milk contains 332 different kinds of oligosaccharides, making it more complex than human milk.<\/p>\n<h2>About Grey Seal (Halichoerus grypus)<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_350985\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-350985\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-350985\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Source-Wildlife-Trust.jpg?resize=300%2C217&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Grey Seal (Halichoerus grypus)\" width=\"300\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Source-Wildlife-Trust.jpg?resize=300%2C217&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Source-Wildlife-Trust.jpg?w=696&amp;ssl=1 696w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-350985\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; Wildlife Trust<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>Grey seal is a <strong>marine mammal <\/strong>belonging to the family<strong> Phocidae.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It is also called the <strong>Atlantic seal or the horsehead seal.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Habitat:<\/strong> It spends most of their lives in <strong>coastal waters<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>On land<\/strong>, it hauls out on <strong>rocky coasts, islands, sandbars, ice shelves, and icebergs.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Distribution: <\/strong>It is found <strong>across shores<\/strong> of the <strong>North Atlantic Ocean<\/strong>, from the <strong>mid-Atlantic region to the Baltic Sea<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Features<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Males<\/strong> can grow up to <strong>10 feet long<\/strong>, while <strong>females<\/strong> are <strong>smaller<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Males<\/strong> have <strong>large, horse-like heads<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pups<\/strong> are <strong>born with white lanugo fur<\/strong> which helps <strong>retain warmth<\/strong> by absorbing sunlight and trapping heat.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Behaviour: <\/strong>It is <strong>diurnal<\/strong>, active during the day and sleeping at night.\n<ul>\n<li>It displays <strong>bottling behaviour<\/strong>, where the <strong>seal floats vertically with only its head above water.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Diet:<\/strong> It is <strong>carnivores<\/strong> feeding mainly on benthic or demersal fish, squid, and occasionally seabirds.<\/li>\n<li><strong>I<\/strong><strong>ndicators <\/strong><strong>species:<\/strong> Being apex predators, it <strong>absorbs high levels of pollutants<\/strong>, serving as <strong>indicators of marine ecosystem<\/strong> health.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Life Span: <\/strong>It typically lives <strong>between 25 and 35 years.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Conservation Status: <\/strong>It is listed as <strong>Least Concern<\/strong> on the IUCN Red List.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Threats: <\/strong>They face threats from <strong>receding ice cover, pollution, shrinking fish stocks, and disease.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>About Grey Seal Milk<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Grey seal milk <strong>contains 332 types of oligosaccharides<\/strong>, the <strong>highest recorded in any mammal milk,<\/strong> surpassing <strong>human milk<\/strong> which averages <strong>100<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Oligosaccharides<\/strong> are <strong>carbohydrates<\/strong> composed of a small number (<strong>typically 2 to 10<\/strong>) of <strong>monosaccharide sugar units<\/strong>.<br \/>\nThey are <strong>found<\/strong> in foods like fruits, vegetables, legumes, and milk.<\/li>\n<li>They act as <strong>prebiotics, feeding beneficial gut bacteria<\/strong> and supporting <strong>gut health<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>These sugars help <strong>protect against viruses and bacteria, support gut development, and promote healthy microorganism growth in pups<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Grey seal milk may help <strong>develop future medicines<\/strong> or may be added to <strong>breast milk substitutes<\/strong> to strengthen infant immunity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: A recent study found that grey seal milk contains 332 different kinds of oligosaccharides, making it more complex than human milk. About Grey Seal (Halichoerus grypus) Grey seal is a marine mammal belonging to the family Phocidae. It is also called the Atlantic seal or the horsehead seal. Habitat: It spends most of their&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/grey-seal-halichoerus-grypus\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Grey Seal (Halichoerus grypus)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10393,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,4182,1738,12039,11834],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-350984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-environment","category-science-and-technology-daily-factly-articles","category-knolls","category-species-in-news","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10393"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350984\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}