Changes

The natural threats to harbor seals are sharks - principally the [[great white shark]] - [[orca]]s, and [[polar bear]]s.  Man is also a threat, as the seals are incidentally captured in fishing gear (gillnets, trawls, purse seines, and weirs), and are also victims of boat strikes, oil spill exposure, chemical contaminants, and power plant entrainment. On land, humans may "harass" and disturb hauled out harbor seals while the seals are resting.

The natural threats to harbor seals are sharks - principally the [[great white shark]] - [[orca]]s, and [[polar bear]]s.  Man is also a threat, as the seals are incidentally captured in fishing gear (gillnets, trawls, purse seines, and weirs), and are also victims of boat strikes, oil spill exposure, chemical contaminants, and power plant entrainment. On land, humans may "harass" and disturb hauled out harbor seals while the seals are resting.

Andre, a harbor seal found and adopted by residents in Rockport, Maine in 1961 [http://www.mainememory.net/bin/Detail?ln=11235][http://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/07/obituaries/harry-goodridge-74-seal-trainer-in-maine.html?pagewanted=1], spent his years migrating between Rockport and Boston's New England Aquarium, delighting thousands; his story was later made into major motion picture, albeit with a [[sea lion]] in the starring role. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109120/]

Andre, a harbor seal found and adopted by residents in Rockport, Maine in 1961 [http://www.mainememory.net/bin/Detail?ln=11235][https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/07/obituaries/harry-goodridge-74-seal-trainer-in-maine.html?pagewanted=1], spent his years migrating between Rockport and Boston's New England Aquarium, delighting thousands; his story was later made into major motion picture, albeit with a [[sea lion]] in the starring role. [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109120/]

==References==

==References==

*[http://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/21/us/andre-the-seal-dies-in-maine-delighted-tourists-for-years.html ''New York Times'' article on the death of the harbor seal Andre]

*[https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/21/us/andre-the-seal-dies-in-maine-delighted-tourists-for-years.html ''New York Times'' article on the death of the harbor seal Andre]

*  Hoover, A.A. 1988. Harbor seal Phoca vitulina. ''Selected Marine Mammals of Alaska: Species Accounts with Research and Management Recommendations'' (J.W. Lentfer, ed), pp. 125–157. Marine Mammal Commission, Washington, DC.

*  Hoover, A.A. 1988. Harbor seal Phoca vitulina. ''Selected Marine Mammals of Alaska: Species Accounts with Research and Management Recommendations'' (J.W. Lentfer, ed), pp. 125–157. Marine Mammal Commission, Washington, DC.

* Tollit, DJ., S.PR. Greenstreet, and P.M. Thompson. 1997. "Prey Selection by harbor seals, ''Phoca vitulina'', in relation to variation in prey abundance". ''Canadian Journal of Zoology'' 75, 1508-1518.

* Tollit, DJ., S.PR. Greenstreet, and P.M. Thompson. 1997. "Prey Selection by harbor seals, ''Phoca vitulina'', in relation to variation in prey abundance". ''Canadian Journal of Zoology'' 75, 1508-1518.