What is a seal “pup” and are they commercially harvested?
English-language terms used for seals are more commonly associated with other animals: “bulls” for adult males, “cows” for adult females, and “pups” for the very young. There are also a variety of terms used for juveniles. “Pup” is an abbreviation of “puppy” dog, derived from the Middle French word poupe, meaning a doll or puppet. According to general usage, words such as “pup”, “calf”, “kid”, “foal” or “kit” are not age-specific. Rather, they describe young which are still dependent on their mothers for survival. However, since many larger mammals have periods of dependency that extend well beyond weaning from the mother’s milk, a misconception has arisen that a “pup” or its equivalent must be several months old or more. In the case of seals, however, dependency ends with weaning, and weaning does not take long. Hooded seals are weaned on average after just 8 days, and sometimes as short as 4 days, the shortest period of any mammal, during which they double in size from about 24 kg to
English-language terms used for seals are more commonly associated with other animals: “bulls” for adult males, “cows” for adult females, and “pups” for the very young. There are also a variety of terms used for juveniles. “Pup” is an abbreviation of “puppy” dog, derived from the Middle French word poupÈe, meaning a doll or puppet. According to general usage, words such as “pup”, “calf”, “kid”, “foal” or “kit” are not age-specific. Rather, they describe young which are still dependent on their mothers for survival. However, since many larger mammals have periods of dependency that extend well beyond weaning from the mother’s milk, a misconception has arisen that a “pup” or its equivalent must be several months old or more. In the case of seals, however, dependency ends with weaning, and weaning does not take long. Hooded seals are weaned on average after just 8 days, and sometimes as short as 4 days, the shortest period of any mammal, during which they double in size from about 24 kg t
