Translation 2783

Strait ice in.late July, and do not formuass concentrations until
the beginning of the mating season. They disperse'tnrough the s tas
of the North Atlantic in search of food. The Newfoundland' hoode cl.
round Cape Farewell alain at the end of July and move alon g seals .
the coasts and the fishing bankt to . the southwestern coast of Greenland,
where they romain - some time feeding vigorously. Later they
53. •
cross Davis ;:trait and approach tne Labrador coast at the end of Septomber;
thence they gradually move towards the Grand banks of Newfoundland,
where they feed for some time, app(::aring in the breeding •
areas in February. The Jan Mayen hooded seals apparently fatten on
the fishint; banks in Denmark Strait, off northern Iceland and southeastern
Greenland, and in the Faeroe Islands region. It is possible
that at the onset of the breeding season tney move into the regions
of the ice massif in the Greenland Sea, where the puppin,;; rookeries
are usually formed..
'Ihe period of parturition among the females is. preceded by
fighting among the males, as a result of which the larger and stronger
male r o mains with a pregnant female.
A hooded seal family is formed
wnen the pup is born, and romains intact until lactation ends and
copulation begins. The majority of Jan ia.yen female hood-d seals
give birth within a fairly short period (from the middl e .
of lia.rch to
-the end of the month); the Newfoundland females give birth during
approximately the same period.
The hooded seal pupping . rookeries are usually formed in the
belt of large Arctic ice-floes brought by trie Polar current. These
floes are reoistant to break-up by stormy winds and ocean swell.
During the pupT'.ing period hooded seals do not form such close concentrations
on the ice as do harp seals. .ach family ueually
occupies a single ice-floe. • •
On the Greenland 3ea ice lactation mostly ends: in late 'harch
and early April; it lasts 16-18 days. Luring lactation a subcutaneous
layer of blubber rapidly accumulates on tue pups.
milk with a fat content of up to 60YJ, most of the pup:3 i
and their nt te of nutrition more than doubles.
Èeeding on
row quic4.y
Whereas the mass of
blubber under tue hide of a new-born pu?•has an average weight of -
9 kg, by the end of lactation it weighs 20 kg. • % -t the be.inning tue
proportion of the weight of the hide with blubbor attachod to ' the
PuP's total body weight varice from 22 .,, to 42,., but au tne end .of
lactation tt in from 50, to 70,. 11:1(1 body by 10, •