Pack-ice seal washes up in Tenerife
An arctic seal pup usually found only in the central and western waters of the North Atlantic became so hopelessly lost that he ended up washed up on a beach in Tenerife hundreds of miles from his natural home.
The nine-months-old hooded seal, also known as a crested seal, was badly malnourished and had lost almost all of his fur.
He was cared at a Tenerife marine centre for four months but has now been flown to the UK to be assessed by vets at the Gweek Seal Sanctuary in Cornwall.
Given the name Sahara, the young pup is still almost completely bald – due, it is thought, to an under-active thyroid condition.
Hooded seals are migratory, but they are born on pack ice and rarely stray as far south as the coast of Africa.
But they are a hardy species, known to dive repeatedly to a depth of over a thousand metres. They can stay submerged for over 50 minutes. Individuals can live to about 30-35 years of age.
If Sahara makes a full recovery he will be taken to Greenland to be released back into the wild.