With their adorable big round eyes and fluffy white fur, these baby seals are cute enough to melt any heart. The harp seals, aged between two and 10-days-old, roll around in the snow and explore their new surroundings.
Snow cute: With their adorable big round eyes and fluffy white fur, these baby seals are cute enough to melt any heart
Brrrilliant: The harp seals, aged between two and 10-days-old, roll around in the snow and explore their new surroundings Heart-warming: The images were taken by in the Gulf of St Lawrence, Canada, by Belgian photographer Ellen Cuylaerts The 44-year-old spent three days with the seals when she visited a breeding site earlier this month. Cuylaerts, of Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, says: ‘It’s truly beautiful to watch the little ones get all cosy on the ice. They shuffle around, rest, and start squealing when feeding time comes and they’re hungry. To be there, in the middle of their habitat, was a really great experience. The pups basically fill their days with sleeping, eating and getting fat. They spend their first 12 days feeding on very high fat milk from their mothers.’
Photographer Ellen Cuylaerts said: ‘It’s truly beautiful to watch the little ones get all cosy on the ice’
‘The pups basically fill their days with sleeping, eating and getting fat,’ said Cuylaerts
Cuylaerts, who visited the seals with her husband Michael, watched as the newborns’ coats lost there yellow hue and turned completely white
Cuylaerts said that the biggest threat against the seal population is humans. Having gained the trust of the seals, Cuylaerts was able to get within one metre of the pups by lying flat on her stomach and shuffling slowly towards them. Cuylaerts, who visited the seals with her husband Michael, watched as the newborns’ coats lost there yellow hue and turned completely white and fluffy over the course of two days. The fur of the harp seal, a species native to the northernmost Atlantic Ocean and parts of the Arctic Ocean, is a highly valued commodity, and animal rights groups continue to campaign against hunters who target seals.
Hunted: The fur of the harp seal, a species native to the northernmost Atlantic Ocean and parts of the Arctic Ocean, is a highly valued commodity
Cuylaerts was able to get within one metre of the pups by lying flat on her stomach and shuffling slowly towards them
Animal rights groups continue to campaign against hunters who target seals
Loll: The seals love resting on their backs in their icy home
Bliss: This seal looks totally content as it basks in the sun
Adorable: This seal fixes Cuylaerts with its big brown eyes. Cuylaerts says: ‘For the harp seal, the biggest threat against their population is humans as the clubbing of seals is still happening. ‘When the pups are aged between one and twelve-days old, they cannot be killed but, after the seal’s fur starts to molt, the hunt is on. ‘The seals are defenceless, not able to swim away or get away! It is cruel and unnecessary.’