harbor seal

noun

|Updated on: 4 Jul 2018

Definition of harbor seal

: a small hair seal (Phoca vitulina) of oceanic coasts in the northern hemisphere that often ascends rivers

Recent Examples of harbor seal from the Web

There's also Maya, the baby giraffe, who was born in May and Milo, the harbor seal pup, who was born just a few weeks later.

— amy schwabe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Everything (old and new) you should do at the zoo with your kids," 25 June 2018
That combination attracts an array of marine birds, harbor seals and sea lions.

— tom stienstra, San Francisco Chronicle, "Sunday getaway to Bodega Bay," 27 May 2018
The Alaska SeaLife Center has two new young pups: A newborn sea otter and harbor seal, both thought to be abandoned.

— michelle theriault boots, Anchorage Daily News, "Meet the Alaska SeaLife Center’s newest pups," 15 June 2018
Adjacent to the harbor seals pool, Husk Haus features a large corn roasting grill and will also sell brats, hot dogs and beer.

— meg jones, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Zoo food has gone upscale. Food trucks, beer garden and roasted corn stand now available to animal watchers," 25 May 2018
After three deaths at the Milwaukee County Zoo in April (two gorillas and one snow leopard), the zoo is happy to announce two births in May. The latest new addition to the zoo family is a baby harbor seal, who was born early Wednesday morning.

— lainey seyler, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "A baby seal was born at the Milwaukee County Zoo Wednesday," 31 May 2018
Mayer spoke as his boat putt-putted among sea otters, harbor seals and pelicans crowding the salt-water estuary called Elkhorn Slough.

— Washington Post, "Sea otters rebound but struggle to regain historic range," 18 May 2018
The book is packed with facts — from the weight of an octopus (150 pounds) to the length of a killer whale’s teeth (3 to 4 inches), from how deep a harbor seal can dive (1,630 feet) to the life span of a geoduck (168 years).

— lynda v. mapes, The Seattle Times, "New children’s book dives deep into the Salish Sea," 23 Apr. 2018
Each phrase is matched with a picture of a natural object, a lovely vista or a wild creature—from a delicate spider web to rusty sandstone formations in the Utah desert to harbor seals on a California beach.

— meghan cox gurdon, WSJ, "Children’s Books: Happy Earth Day," 20 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'harbor seal.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.