Translation 2783

73
. The maximum zoological length of adult ribbon suais is 190. cm,
the average being 165 cm; new-born pups are 80-90 cm 1Dng.
he dif-
ference in size between males and females is very small. The body • .
weight of adults iS 70- 80 kg, rising te 100 kg durihL.: the perio,d of
- maximum nutrition. The average. weight of new-born tups is about 9 kg.
hibbon seals are found mainly - in the Sea of . Okhotsk and the
Bering rien. (Pi.. 16). They also occur in tile soutnern parts of the.
Chukchi Sea from Kolyuchinskaya .bay on tne west to l'oint larrow on
the east. The southern limit of their range runs Lhrouh tne northern
part of the Sea of Japah (Yatarskii Strait an o Kurile islands,.
ring the . period when they form rookeries on tue ice tne
. areas of concentration of ribbon seals in tue 13erin;; ::ea are the CUlf
of Anadyr and the drift-ice massif in the region of St. 1:atthew and
St. Lawrence Islands; tney occur in somewhat smaller numbers in 01-
yutorskii and
and in the soUthern part of the Chukchi Sea.
Lays, on the Pribylov Islands, in'13ering Strait,
In the Sea of Okhotsk tue geatest concentrations of ribbon
seals are observed in the areas northeast of Sakhalin and southeast
of Babushkina ,Day. It is believed that th. - ribbon seals of tue Sea
of Okhotsk and of the -1'.ering Sea are two local forms. ?ne rookeries
on ice are always far from the coasts; the seals prefer to form .concentrations
on thick and hummocky masses of drifte-ice, with patches
of open water and crevasses.
Pregnant females come to the pupping areas - in good time and
•Usually-settle on iee masses lying near the edge of drift-ice. The
pupping period extends over apàroximately a month, from the end of
March tà the last days of April.
A female usually produces a single
pup,.Which . is suckled by her for about 20 days anu gains weight'
rapidly. Whereas the thickness of thé subcutaneous fat layer in a
new-born pup is about 1-1.5 cm, by the end of the lactation period
it has increased to 4 or 5 cm.
The average weignt of the pup increases
to 28-30 kg, and its body length to 100-12 5 cm.
At the age of about 25-50 days .ne embryonic fur i s finally
shed, Lut the pup continuos to live .
on the ice for sono time lon;er,
• subsisting on its accumulated fat. Its transition to an indel,endent
mode or life leads to los;:; of weiht (down La 2 ./) -29 k;;) and decrease
in Lhe Lhickness. of the subouLpeeous fat layer.
unl:; il Li Lney