Seals

In one of his essays-known enthusiast of nature and a gifted writer and animal painter Gerald Durrell expressed this wish: "If I was not a man, I would like to be a sea lion". Males, which you see in the movies or pictures, really have to own graceful movements, the majestic, but not a fierce kind of large males, kind and gentle eyes of young females, playful games of children. Closer acquaintance with their lives a few dispels this illusion.
  All through the autumn, winter and early spring the northern fur seals is carried out in the open sea, where the catch of cephalopods and fish. They swim and dive admirably and in search of food in the ocean doing a long journey, following temperate and cold regions. With the coming of spring, the instinct of reproduction leads to the shores of the seal islands, where they saw a life. On the small island of seals that are in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, not far from Sakhalin Island, in early May, adult males emerge first, bill hooks. They are chosen on the beach and take it to the sites at a distance of 2-5 meters from each other.
 Each seal fiercely protects the occupied territory from neighbors and newcomers belated males. Between the chopper often have ferocious fights, sometimes resulting in serious injury. Here is a competition not only in strength but also endurance. The fact is that by taking part of the beach, chopper can not leave it until the end of the breeding season. Otherwise, it will take place immediately one of the competitors.
It takes a month, and the island of countless herds of females swim. Males do not like to be disturbed during the breeding season, in addition, they are very picky in choosing the rookeries. Therefore, in the places that they seem appropriate, gather hundreds, sometimes thousands of animals.
 Huge and overweight, overfed males during the winter waiting for the arrival of females on the beach, and everyone tries to get them in his harem.
During this period, the passions at the rookery reaches its highest tension. Because each female between the chopper are bloody battles, in which also participate, and younger males, or polusekachi aspiring to create their own harem. Animals feeding agree with each other, and each tries to push the opponent, setting in motion well and sharp teeth. Fighting animals loud roar, they echo the female, and uproar, standing at the rookery, can be heard several kilometers away.
 Often, when competition between the chopper and killed the female, for the possession of which, in general, and there is a battle. When the two faced each other two-meter carcass weight in each quarter of a ton, then a small female, which is almost 50-60 pounds of pull, crush does not cost anything. Often, the female dies, being simply torn excessively passionate gentlemen, each of which tries to take it away from the other and dragged to his harem. It happens that the chopper, risked his life to steal females from a neighbor. The magnitude of the harem is in direct proportion to the strength and courage of the male. It usually gathers around 10-50 females. The owner of a harem jealously watching its not too chaste wards and severely punishing them for any attempt to "treason." In general, life cleaver all this period is very restless, and the more the harem, the harder it deal with it.
 Females come to the rookery pregnant and in a day or give birth to her only cub, covered with soft black fur. After birth, they occasionally go to sea, and returning back to find the baby and feed him milk. As the female distinguishes her among thousands of others the same little black babies remains a mystery even to experts. Finds the female and his harem, whose owner has made every effort to make it inadvertently made a mistake.
 For a family fortune from a distance watching the old bulls, weaker males (bachelors) and has not developed to the fullest extent polusekachi. They form at the rookery their particular group. In early September, ending the period of milk feeding and molting. Harems break, and tired, skinny males go to sea batten and prepare for battle next year. After leaving the beach behind them young and female, and the rookery remains empty until the next spring.
 Northern fur kotili common in Japan, Okhotsk and Bering Seas, as well as the Pacific coast of North America. In addition to the island Seal, arranged rookeries on the Commander and Pribilof islands, some islands of the Kuril Islands and the coast of California.
 In the second half of last century, the total number of northern fur seals counted in several million individuals. In his misfortune, these animals have beautiful fur, which is highly valued and used to make clothing. As a result of uncontrolled hunting in 1911 in the Kuril Islands is completely seals killed on the island of Seal, where they used to be not less than 200,000, only 7000 survived. From the millions of Commander herd there are only 8000 individuals. At 10 times the herd has declined two millionth Pribilof Islands.
 The sharp reduction in the number of animals has led to the forced termination of trades, and concluded in 1911 and 1956 international conventions contributed to the recovery of these valuable marine livestock animals. Now the world flock northern fur seal population of about 2.5 million birds. This allows an annual harvest of 65-80 thousand skins.
 Hunting seals is prohibited everywhere, but in the summer, when the animals are on the rookeries, performed a systematic slaughter under the supervision of professionals.