Weighing up to 300 kilograms the grey seal features a conical head. While basking in the sun on sandbanks or rocks after an exhausting search for prey, it looks rather clumsy. But underwater it shows great skill in hunting herring, cod and flatfish. It can go for long stretches without coming up for air and dives of up to twenty minutes are not uncommon.
By the beginning of the 20th century we humans had almost exterminated the grey seal. It was only in the 90s that a hunting ban managed to turn the tide. Today, 30,000 animals live in the Baltic Sea.
Baltic Sea LIFE - DISCOVER.UNDERSTAND.PROTECT.