A harp seal pup called a whitecoat patiently waits for its mother to return in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada. Pups are born on the ice in late February and nursed for 12 to 15 days until their mother abandons them to mate and migrate. The pup, fattened with enriched milk, will wait for its mother until hunger or weak ice forces it into the sea to learn how to swim and eat. Natural mortality is high in normal conditions, and we have witnessed the loss of over 90 percent of pups when storms have demolished weak ice in warmer than normal temperatures. —David Doubilet PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID DOUBILET/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
