Common Seal of Aberdeen
Common Seal of Aberdeen
Michael Greenwell draws attention to disappearing Scottish Seals , including the Common Seal of Aberdeen and their many relatives around the coast of Scotland.As he says
One of the things that environmentalists are warning us about is that it is very difficult to predict the pace of certain changes. There could be a gradual erosion of some things but for others it could all happen very quickly. In fact, a collapse in the food chain could be very very fast indeed…
Indeed!
Zoologists from the University of St Andrews are so concerned about the slump in numbers of the creature loved by locals and holidaymakers alike that they are now undertaking the first complete survey of Scotland’s common seal Phoca vitulina population in the hope of an explanation. The two teams of researchers, who are equipped with helicopters using military-specification thermal imaging technology, will fly for two hours each side of low tide - the time that offers the best view of seals - in an operation which, it is hoped, may shed some light on a disturbing 45 per cent reduction in the Orkney and Shetland population.
A major, catastrophic event - such as pollution or disease - has already been ruled out by the scientists. “If there had been one, we’d have had carcasses washing up and people would have seen them at the shore and noticed them,” Callan Duck, the university’s senior research zoologist, said yesterday.
Instead, the seals may be finding a substantial reduction in the sustenance available to them as a result of subtle changes in the food chain. The species relies for food on sand eels, the population of which has been dramatically reduced; the seabird population is another source which has been faring badly. Competition for food has also intensified because a major rise in the grey seal population.
I often wonder about the knock on effects of climate change and it seems logical that something related to this may be the cause.
So lets hope the Common Seal of Aberdeen and other parts of Scotland can rebound. As for the Common Seal of Aberdeen, that is in a museum.
3 comments:
hi there.
just linking to your blog now. sorry not done it before but very busy at the moment.
strange one about the seals isnt it?
Yes A real Scottish mystery. Not quite up there with Nessie, but disturbing. We used to see them regularly in my sea kayaking days.
A lot of people worry about species dying out and it is a shame that this happens, but perhaps the cause is not environmental. It may be evolutionary based. Think back to the dinosaurs. They had their time and then evolution moved on. Sad to see cute things disappearing, but maybe it's all part of Mother Nature's big plan.
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