Normally, harp seals avoid humans.
Harp seals have very strong diving abilities and can go to very deep waters to find food. Biologists have conducted tests and found that the average diving depth of harp seals reaches two hundred meters, and the average diving time is more than ten minutes.
But harp seals are rare.
It's not uncommon.
Every year during the harp seal breeding season, an average of more than two thousand harp seals gather per square kilometer on the ice surface of their birthplace.
This is one of the main reasons why many animal protection organizations limit their protection of harp seals to their pups.
However, the harp seal's reproductive capacity is not strong.
The gestation period of female harp seals is as long as eleven and a half months. Around March each year, female harp seals will breed on the ice floes, giving birth to only one pup at each litter.
When a harp seal is born, it is long and narrow, about one meter long, but weighs only about ten kilograms.
Newborn harp seal pups have white fur, with only a little black on their noses and snouts.
The most difficult thing is that harp seals do not have fixed mates. The baby seals never know their fathers, and the mother seals are responsible for raising their offspring.
The mortality rate among harp seal pups is extremely high within the first two weeks of life.
Female seals spend most of their time foraging underwater, and whether laughing seals will encounter natural enemies on the ice depends entirely on luck.
However, as long as the baby seal survives the most dangerous two weeks, its weight will almost triple, and a thick layer of fat will form on its body to resist the cold. But at this time, it does not mean that the harp seal pup will survive.
At this time, the female seals return to the sea, and the harp seal pups that have not yet fully grown are left alone on the ice.
On the ice, harp seal pups need to complete the molting process from white to silver-gray on their own.
It is not until one month later that it becomes completely independent and can go into the water to find food.
From being abandoned to hunting on their own, young harp seals lose 50% of their body fat and have a mortality rate of 30%.
"You guys wait here, I'll go down and see if I can catch this guy up." Gao Chuang said with a smile.
Xiang Yang was quite speechless. This harp seal was nearly 1.7 meters long and weighed at least 200 kilograms. If Gao Chuang really let it go down, it would be hard to say who would catch whom.
What made Xiang Yang even more speechless was that Fang Youqun actually spoke at this time, "If anyone wants to catch it, it should be me. This harp seal was first discovered by our captain, so it belongs to us."
Xiang Yang covered his forehead. These two, one old and one young, were really one brave and one daring.
"Forget it. A seal won't sell for much money. Don't go down, or you might get into danger again." Xiang Yang ignored Fang Youqun's words and patiently advised Gao Chuang.
Gao Chuang frowned. Although the harp seal had certain attack capabilities, Gao Chuang was confident that he could deal with this harp seal.
But Gao Chuang could not ignore Xiang Yang's words.
Because some harp seals are good friends with killer whales.
Killer whales are very strange creatures. They are gods of war on the sea. They dare to launch a direct attack on all marine life including blue whales, and also prey on various seals.
But killer whales only attack seals passing by outside their territory.
Killer whales never attack native seals within their territory.
Instead of attacking the seals, they sometimes even provide protection to the seals and play with them on the seabed.
Well, it's just like humans keeping a pet.
This sea area is exactly where whales appear. The seal can live so leisurely and comfortably in this sea area where whales appear. It is very likely that this seal is a native seal of this sea area.
"Forget it." Gao Chuang waved his hand. "Let's continue talking about the Weddell Sea. Tell me what you think. Do you want to go or not?"
"President Gao, you should make the decision. Whether I go or not, I agree with you."
"Haha, since you don't want to catch it, this harp seal is mine."
Of these two sentences, the first one was meant to be said to Gao Chuang, and the second one was shouted out loud by Fang Youqun.
"No one on board is allowed to enter the water without my order."
Xiang Yang first glared at Fang Youqun fiercely and warned him sternly, then turned around and said, "Boss Gao, let's sit down and talk. In fact, whether we go or not, we have already gone deep into the Antarctic waters and need to do a lot of preparation work."
The two found a seat and sat down.
Gao Chuang fell into memories again. "In fact, my first trip to the Weddell Sea was an accident. The Weddell Sea itself was not on our original route. But suddenly there was an important matter that required us to go to the current Great Wall Station immediately. After we finished that matter, we were very close to the Weddell Sea. At that time, the captain joked that we should go to the Weddell Sea next."
Xiang Yang blinked, "And then you went to the Weddell Sea?"
"Yeah." Gao Chuang nodded and said, "That day we were in the Weddell Sea, we boarded a huge iceberg with wine, and then drank a lot of wine on the ice. The champagne showed dazzling colors under the Antarctic sun, and even a surprisingly bright red color."
"I remember that it was summer in Antarctica at that time. The sun would disappear in the sea in the early morning and then rise again soon. Although the sunshine was so abundant, we were still very cold because the Weddell Sea is the world's coldest place. The sea ice there has a history of thousands of years and theoretically will never melt."
"At that time, penguins were not yet a protected species. A group of us young guys had a competition to kill penguins in the Weddell Sea."
"I was young and competitive at the time. I was promoted to second mate at a young age. In addition, sailors in my country had a low status at that time, and many people on the ship did not obey me. So I caught every penguin I could. By nightfall, I had killed three Adélie penguins, two king penguins, and more than ten emperor penguins."
Xiang Yang blinked.
The Adélie penguin is a very small Antarctic bird with not much meat. Although the Adélie penguin has little oil on its body, it is not easy to hunt. It is one of the most aggressive penguins of all. Often one of them can drive a group of newly adult emperor penguins away from the ice.
It is extremely difficult to kill three Adélie penguins.
As for the dozen or so emperor penguins, Xiang Yang didn't find it strange at all. In front of the human butcher's knife, emperor penguins were just slightly larger chickens, ducks, and geese. Basically, any adult man could kill them.