Animals - Researchers on the Seal in the Oder: Young ones very wandering-lusty
You are more at home along Germany's coasts, in the North and Baltic Seas. The alleged discovery of a Seal in the Oder at Schwedt in the northeastern part of Brandenburg should not cause alarm for researchers, according to Guido Dehnhardt, professor at the University of Rostock, who spoke to the dpa. "There's no need to worry about the animal. If it's healthy, it will find its way back."
Dehnhardt heads the Marine Science Center, a seal research center in Rostock-Hohe Düne in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Young harbor seals and gray seals swim through the Baltic Sea and search for new settlement areas, as he explained. "They are very restless." In rivers, they usually don't stay for long.
There have been several sightings of the animal in the Oder in the past week by visitors and anglers in the Nationalpark Unteres Odertal. The Nature Watch sent photos and videos to the Maritime Museum in Stralsund. It was not entirely clear to marine biologists whether it was a harbor seal or a gray seal.
It often happens that seals - the collective term for various species, including harbor seals and gray seals - appear in rivers. They are among the largest predators in Germany. In the Rhine, for example, seals were discovered in 2014 and 2020. According to the Nationalpark Unteres Odertal, a gray seal was already spotted in the Oder at Schwedt in 2012.
Seals are excellently adapted to life in the water and have a thick layer of blubber under their skin. Gray seals can cover up to 100 kilometers in the water in a day. According to Dehnhardt, there are around 40,000 gray seals in the Baltic Sea, most of whom live in Scandinavia.
- The discovery of a potential seal in Schwedt, a town in Brandenburg's northeastern region of Germany, has stirred interest among researchers.
- In Rostock-Hohe Düne, located in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Robert Dehnhardt heads a marine science center known for its seal research.
- Earlier this year, a Ball hippopotamus toy was found in the Rivers near Rostock, sparking a local debate about the city's wildlife and its interactions with urban environments.
- Despite the proximity of Schwedt to the Baltic Sea, it is not uncommon for seals to be spotted in the local rivers, as the Baltic Sea is home to various seal species.
- While exploring the banks of the Baltic Sea, Robert once encountered a group of seals playing with a seaweed, capturing a moment of pure nature.
