Typical play behaviour sees the pup approaching this diver from behind
Posing in rope weed
Life as a pup
While preparing this article I interviewed Sue Sayer , Founder and Director of the Cornwall Seal Group Research Trust , who told me why we should exercise caution when diving in the vicinity of seals . Her principal rule is that no boat should go within 100 metres of a seal that has hauled out of the water . “ Ideally , we don ’ t want boats , or divers , to go within 100 metres of a hauled-out seal ,” she says . “ If that seal has been on a deep dive for hunting purposes , it is replacing depleted oxygen levels , and that resting time is crucial to its health .”
Such deep dives are physically exacting - contrary to expectation , a seal will breathe out before it carries out a sub-100-metre dive . By that time , it will have pooled most of its blood into its core organs and reduced its heart rate from 120bpm to less than 10bpm . The most proficient Yoga exponents can only dream of such self-control . A satellite tag revealed that a three-week pup made regular dives to 120 metres soon after entering the sea , perhaps imitating the hunting strategies of adult seals .
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