9 Our Scottish Adventure

Our Scottish Adventure Wind Rider brought us to Scotland, which is the northernmost part of the United Kingdom. (The other parts are England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.) Scotland is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, and off its east coast is the North Sea. Many interesting animals live in Scotland and around its coasts, such as seals, gannets, stoats, puffins, and even dolphins! Unfortunately, many of these creatures are endangered and face problems like habitat destruction and lack of food.

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Max's Harbor Seal Facts We loved playing with harbor seals in Scotland! Here are my top harbor seal facts. All harbor seals have a fatty layer under their skin called blubber. This keeps them warm when they are swimming in cold water. Blubber also stores nutrients as an emergency energy source and helps seals easily stay afloat. Swimming is tiring and takes up a lot of energy!

Harbor seals are amazing divers. They can swim down as far as one thousand six hundred feet (that's more than the height of the Empire State Building) and hold their breath for up to twenty- eight minutes! When seals sunbathe on a beach in large numbers, it's called a haul-out. They usually do

this to rest or to find a mate. One of the biggest dangers baby seals face is getting caught in fishing nets by mistake.

Sofia's Oil Spill Facts Oil spills can happen when boats carrying oil are wrecked or when oil wells that are pumping oil from beneath the seabed get damaged. An oil spill is very bad for sea life. Birds, seals, and sea otters that get covered in oil can't clean themselves. They have to be caught and then cleaned by humans with a special detergent. The thinner fur on seals means they are easier to clean than birds with many feathers or furry animals like otters. It can take up to three hundred gallons of water to get one bird clean. It's very hard to clean up oil spills, but here are some of the best methods: