Hooded Seal
Inflates a bright red balloon out of one nostril to impress rivals and mates
No photo available for Hooded Seal
The wacky thing
Adult male hooded seals have an inflatable black hood on top of their head that they can pump up like a balloon when excited or threatened — and, more dramatically, they can push a bright pink-red membrane out through one nostril and inflate it into a balloon nearly the size of their own head, bouncing it while making a droning sound. Both displays are used to intimidate rival males and impress females.
Overview
Hooded seals live in the deep, cold waters of the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean, spending most of their lives far from shore and hauling out on pack ice only to breed and molt. They have the shortest nursing period of any mammal — pups are weaned in just four days, during which they roughly double their birth weight on extremely fat-rich milk.
Found in
Deep waters of the central and western North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean, from Svalbard to eastern Canada.
Things worth knowing
- 1
The inflatable red nasal membrane is a specialized extension of the nasal septum found only in adult males — it isn't present at birth and develops with sexual maturity.
- 2
Hooded seal milk is roughly 60% fat, among the richest of any mammal, which is what allows pups to double their weight in just four days of nursing.
- 3
The black head 'hood' can be inflated to roughly twice the size of the seal's actual head, and stays inflated during aggressive encounters with rival males.
- 4
Hooded seals are exceptionally deep divers, regularly diving over 1,000 meters and staying submerged for up to an hour while hunting squid and fish.
- 5
Despite the dramatic displays, hooded seal confrontations are usually settled without serious injury — the inflated hood and nasal balloon are primarily visual and acoustic intimidation, not weapons.