Whitecoat
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Rockfang
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{{otheruses|White coat (disambiguation)}}
[[Image:Blanchon-idlm2006.jpg|thumb|right|205px|]]
A '''whitecoat''' is a newborn [[harp seal|harp]] or [[grey seal]] with soft, white [[fur]].
==From newborn to whitecoat==
'''Newborn''' seals have yellow fur because of [[amniotic fluid]], and are still wet. When the pup dries, it is called a '''yellowcoat'''. The amniotic stain fades and the fur turns white within a few days, and it gets the name '''whitecoat'''. First it's called a ''thin whitecoat'', and when it becomes visibly fatter it is a ''fat whitecoat''.<ref name=Stewart&Lavigne1980>{{cite journal | author = Tore Haug, Kjell Tormod Nilssen, Tor-Arne Øigård | year = 2007 | title = Report from surveys to assess hooded and harp seal pup production in the Greenland sea pack-ice in March-April 2007 (.pdf-file)| journal = [[Norwegian Institute of Marine Research]] (IMR) | volume = 9 | issue = 1503-6294 | url = http://www.imr.no/__data/page/7021/Nr.9_2007.pdf}}</ref>
Nursing lasts for about 12 days. Cows frequently return to their pups to suckle. While she is suckling, the mother does not eat—rather, she draws on her reserves of fatty blubber to produce the milk. Pups grow rapidly, at the end of nursing, most pups weigh 36 kg (80 lbs) or more. The mothers then leave their fully-fed pups and join the bulls to mate. At this age of about 12 days, pups first become "[[greycoats]]",<ref name=fao>[http://www.fao.org/fishery/species/3581 Phoca groenlandica (Erxleben, 1777)], [[Food and Agriculture Organization]]</ref> as grey juvenile coloring grows under their white fur, then "[[ragged-jacket]]s" when white fur begins to fall out in patches.
==Hunting of whitecoats==
The [[United States]] banned the hunting and import of whitecoats in 1972, through the [[Marine Mammal Protection Act]].<ref>[http://www.wetsand.com/article.asp?locationid=5&resourceid=6783&ProdId=0&CatId=852&TabID=849&SubTabID=852 The Atlantic Seal Hunt], Wetsand.com</ref> The [[European Economic Community]] banned the import of whitecoat products in 1983.<ref>[http://www.athropolis.com/arctic-facts/fact-seal-whitecoat.htm Facts: Cold, Icy and Arctic], Athropolis.com</ref><ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,963931,00.html Business Notes Hunting], [[Time (magazine)|Time]], [[April 6]], [[1987]]</ref> Canada banned the offshore [[commercial]] hunting of whitecoats and [[blueback]]s on December 30, 1987.<ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE3DA1230F932A35752C0A96E948260 Canada Bans Most Seal Kills After Big Protests in Europe], [[The New York Times]], [[January 1]], [[1988]]</ref>
==In popular culture==
[[Seabert]] is the name of an animated television series from 1985, about a boy, a girl, and their "pet" whitecoat seal Seabert.
==See also==
*[[Grey Seal]]
*[[Harp Seal]]
*[[Seal hunting]]
==References==
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[[Category:True seals]]
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