The gray seal breeding season is ending soon – the two seal stations in Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Hostein have already taken care of dozens of young animals in the past few weeks. In the seal station in Friedrichskoog, around 30 small gray seals were cared for this season, and in the station in Norddeich, East Frisia, there are currently 17, as the facilities announced.
Meanwhile, a record number of animal births has been recorded on Heligoland, as reported by the Jordsand Association – figures for gray seal births on the Wadden Sea coast are not yet available.
In the 2023/24 breeding season, 793 young animals were recorded on the beaches of the offshore island in one day, as Damaris Buschhaus from the Jordsand Association said. “So far, a higher number of births has not been recorded on the Helgoland Dune in any winter.” The Norddeicher station announced that the admission numbers were roughly in line with the long-term average.
Support in the first few weeks
In their first weeks of life, the small seals are very susceptible to disturbances. Unlike baby seals, they cannot swim at first with their white, long-haired baby fur; they only go into the water after they change their fur.
The offspring of Germany’s largest predators are born between November and January. The strictly protected animals can grow up to 2.5 meters long and weigh 300 kilograms when fully grown.
As alleged competition for fishermen, gray seals had been almost wiped out in the North Sea over the centuries. Since the 1980s, colonies have emerged again, such as on the Helgoland Dune.
When adult gray seals were counted in spring 2023, around 1,400 animals were counted on Heligoland and almost 1,200 animals in the Wadden Sea of Lower Saxony and Hamburg. There were also around 170 gray seals in the Schleswig-Holstein part.
