Many seals live in Alaska. Harbor seals, ice seals and Northern fur seals inhabit the chilly waters surrounding the state. Harbor seals primarily live on the coast from Dixon Entrance, to Kuskokwim Bay and throughout the Aleutian Islands. Most seal pups are born from May to mid-July.

Seals in Alaska, like the harbor seal, typically eat walleye pollock, Pacific cod, capelin, eulachon, Pacific herring, sandlance, Pacific salmon, sculpin, flounder, sole, octopus, and squid. The seal pictured left, is a ribbon seal. According to the Alaska Department of Fish & Game:

"Ribbon seals are the rarest and most elusive of the ice seals and in waters adjacent to Alaska they occur mainly in the Bering Sea where they are found in the open sea in summer and in the pack ice in winter. The term ice seal refers to four seal species in Alaska that depend upon ice for feeding, resting, and pupping."

Predators for seals vary on their geography. For ice seals, polar bears, killer whales, eagles, hunters and gulls are primary threats. For harbor seals, they fall prey to killer whales, sea lions and sharks, along with land predators wolves, bears and coyotes.

Source: Alaska Department of Fish & Game