Seals show different levels of parenting skills

Seals show different levels of parenting skills. Grey seals have different types of personality that affect the extent to which they guard and care for their young, according to new research. Researchers from Durham University and the University of St Andrews, looking at seal colonies in Scotland, found that seal mothers are often unpredictable and adopt a wide variation of mothering styles when it comes to checking on their pups. Some are very attentive while others are not, the researchers found. The Durham-St Andrews study shows, for the first time, the extent of personality differences in marine mammals in the wild. It shows how individual animals have differing behavioural 'styles', and how they may be limited in their ability to respond to different environments; a concern in a world of rapid environmental change and changing resources. The study could have benefits for future conservation policy, habitat management and reveals new information about the process of evolution.