What kind of animal is that?

Part 1

People visiting Alaska for the first time often see animals in the wild. This is a big thrill, but they are often unsure exactly what kind of animal they saw. The purpose of this new blog series is to help you identify Alaskan animals that you will likely encounter when you visit Skagway. There’s nothing more embarrassing than showing someone back home a picture of what you think is a bear only to find out that it’s actually a rottweiler.

What in the heck was that head bobbing up and down in the water?

In Skagway, all sorts of wildlife can be spotted around the docks where the cruise ships tie up. If you look down into the ocean, you may see an animal’s head break the surface on occasion. It will remain above water for a few seconds before submerging. This may go on for some time. So, what the heck is it?

Is it a harbor seal?

Probably. Harbor seals are very common around Skagway. These cute mammals are also called common seals, but not by anyone around here. They reach sizes of up to 370-pounds, but most of them are around 200-pounds. They’re called harbor seals because they like to hang out around harbors, and that just happens to be exactly where you are when you get off of your cruise ship.

Harbor seals like to hang around and pop their heads in and out of the water. They eat salmon and other kinds of fish, and that’s really about all they do. In other words: harbor seals live the good life. The harbor seal is not very exotic, so people that see one often want it to be something else. Tourists most often misidentify harbor seals as sea lions or sea otters, but let’s take a look at these other sea mammals before we get all excited.

Is it lying to call a harbor seal a sea lion?

In short, yes. A sea lion is also a pinniped, but it doesn’t really look anything like a harbor seal. Sea lions often hang around the cruise ship docks, but they seldom hang out for long because they are always on the move. Sea lions are important and they have places to go.

First of all, the sea lions around Skagway are called Stellar sea lions. They are named after a naturalist named Georg Steller because he gets credit for first describing them, even though indigenous people were describing them for thousands of years before his pasty face was ever seen in Alaska.

Male Stellar sea lions grow to 2,470-pounds and females grow to nearly 800-pounds because they like to eat. That’s a lot bigger than a harbor seal. They also have larger heads, pointier noses, and are much more brown or tan in color than harbor seals, which are usually gray and/or black.

You may very well see a sea lion in Skagway, but it’s far more likely you’ll see a seal. But is it possible that bobbing head you saw was a sea otter? Let’s find out.

Sea otters live in the sea, right?

Indeed they do! In fact, sea otters rarely leave the water, if ever. Most live their entire life on the ocean. Can you imagine their prune hands?

Still, it’s unlikely you saw a sea otter because they are extremely rare visitors to Skagway. Sea otters live around kelp beds, which is where they mate and find food. Without kelp, they are out of luck. About once every five years, someone sees a sea otter in Skagway. This is big news. Especially in the winter when there isn’t much going on.

Colonies of sea otters will occasionally send out one scout to look for new territory. Every so often, a scout will make it to Skagway from Glacier Bay or Lisianski Inlet to the south. Since the Upper Lynn Canal is the end of the road, they turn around and head back from whence they came. Why?

Look around. Do you see any kelp beds? Nope.

So, what have we learned? That head bobbing up and down in the water was likely a harbor seal, which is pretty awesome because they are cute little buggers and make for a great photo. Be sure to check out the next blog in the series where we try to figure out, “What kind of animal is that?”