BEACHMASTERS
3 Heart rate .
Lowering heart rate to below 10 beats per minute slows the flow of oxygen around the body and conserves it, allowing a seal to hold its breath for up to an hour. It uses oxygen stored in myoglobin molecules in the muscles and haemoglobin molecules in the blood when diving, rather than extracting it straight from air in the lungs. Tis prevents it from suffering the bends, where increases in pressure at depth cause nitrogen in the lungs to dissolve into the blood, leading to air bubbles when pressure is reduced. Tis is common with scuba divers and can cause tissue damage and pain. Seals avoid this by emptying their lungs before diving, closing off the alveoli to prevent gaseous exchange, and using oxygen stores.
4 Breathing .
Nostrils close to prevent water geting in whilst underwater.
A female bears one pup, which feeds on her fat- rich milk until it triples its birth weight.
A seal will often bask with its body arched, known as 'banana-ing', so its head and flippers are raised.
Long-term monitoring of the grey seals at South Walney Nature Reserve has shown the colony has grown from 360 individuals in 2018 to 563 individuals in 2025.
DID YOU KNOW? When you see a seal with its nose sticking out of the water, it’s known as botling (resembling a plastic botle bobbing in the water). Tis is when they sleep or rest and replenish oxygen at sea when on extended foraging trips.
Cumbrian Wildlife | November 2025 17
© ALEXANDER MUSTARD/2020VISION
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