Adorable Seal Pup Gets Hugs, Kisses, and Belly Rubs From Its Loving and Affectionate Mother

Along the rocky coast of North Wales lives a large population of grey seals. An adorable moment captured on video can be seen on the Great Orme Grey Seals (Halichoerus grypus) YouTube channel. A nine-day-old seal pup, looking nearly as wide and round as its mother, cuddles up to its mom. The mothers stick close to their babies for the first few weeks, feeding them often to help the babies put on weight. Seal mothers have special bonds with their pups that they reinforce through gentle play and lots of close contact.

About Grey Seals

Grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) can be found swimming around and lounging along the North Atlantic. They prefer rocky beaches with reefs, coves, and small islands. They eat a diet of fish and crustaceans, which they hunt for by using their excellent underwater eyesight and hearing. The females grow to about seven and a half feet long, weighing 550 pounds. The adult males are larger, reaching 10 feet in length and weighing 880 pounds.

Grey seals live along coastlines in the northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada, along the eastern North Atlantic coastline (Great Britain, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Russia, and the Faroe Islands), and the Baltic Sea. They spend a lot of time on water and ashore.

The video we mentioned above was taken on the Great Orme on the north coast of Wales. Near the town of Llandudno, the Great Orme Country Park is a great spot to catch wild grey seals resting along the rocks. During pupping season in fall and early winter, you can spot mothers doting on their seal pups along the coast.

Mother-Pup Relationships in Grey Seals

A grey seal pup wouldn’t survive the first few weeks of life without an attentive mother. The pups need almost constant feeding and attention after they are born. Although it is only a few short weeks before the pups are weaned and the mothers leave them to fend for themselves, during that short time, the mother-pup bond is a close one.

When grey seals are born, they weigh around 30 pounds. Grey seal mothers typically have only one baby at a time. The babies are dependent on their mothers at first, and the mother feeds them milk frequently to help them build up the strength needed to become strong swimmers in the sea. A grey seal mother’s milk comprises over 50% fat, which is why the nine-day-old pup we see in the video is already looking as plump as its mother, although not nearly as long as her.

The seals need to develop blubber to insulate them from the cold waters of the North Atlantic. The faster they grow, the better the chance the pup has at survival. During the first few weeks, the pups nurse often, gaining around five pounds per day. According to the Smithsonian National Zoo, the pups nurse for about five minutes every five hours until they are weaned at three weeks.

Maternal Care Through Belly Scratching and Gentle Play

Watch the video of the mother seal and her pup in Orme, and you can see how seal mothers and babies interact. The mother sidles up closer to her pup to scratch its belly with her fins and touch noses. All of this helps to reinforce their close bond, which is critical for the pup’s early survival. If the pup didn’t stick close to its mother, it would surely starve to death before it could learn to hunt on its own. Research has shown that when grey seal mothers and babies stick close together during the first few weeks, the babies have a higher rate of survival.

A mother’s gentle play, along with grooming and belly scratches, helps the pups learn social bonding before they go out on their own. Grey seals are highly social, congregating in large groups when they emerge on land. The pup’s first social interaction is with its mother, from whom it learns how to communicate — skills it will use later during courtship and mating.

Mothers Can Recognize Their Pup’s Cries

Grey seals are highly vocal, which you will hear if you ever visit a beach filled with them. Scientists and researchers have even taught captive grey seals to mimic human speech patterns. It turns out that this vocalization is critical to their early survival. Grey seal mothers listen for their pups’ cries and can find their babies out of a crowded beach full of other mothers and pups.

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