As this page notes, Weddell seals live further south than any other mammal on Earth. They are the neighbors of penguins in what most of us would consider rather extreme conditions. That includes catching fish and eating under vast sheets of ice.
Seals are thought to have evolved from an otter-like species in Arctic Canada. So modern day harp seals and walruses haven't moved far from where their long-ago ancestors were. Weddell seals live at the other end of the world. Seals have evolved and migrated since then. Of course many have gotten used to sunshine and warmth in the lands in between. Some of those who went all the way through had to adjust to perpetual winter conditions.
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Weddell seals look very appealing, especially the pups with their huge eyes, but it gives me some serious chills thinking about living on and under the ice. Try to visualize digging your way through a freezing crack in the ice with your teeth without getting claustrophobic. Nevertheless, it appears as if they've been living this way for time out of mind so who am I to question it. Their closest living relatives are weasels, raccoons, skunks and red pandas? Evolution is weird.
Do you remember having read The White Seal by Rudyard Kipling? It's about a white seal who after witnessng a seal hunt swims off on his own to find a safe place for seals. It's recognizable as a Kipling work but hardly as well known as The Jungle Book.
Oh! hush thee, my baby, the night is behind us,
And black are the waters that sparkled so green.
The moon, o’er the combers, looks downward to find us
At rest in the hollows that rustle between.
Where billow meets billow, then soft be thy pillow,
Ah, weary wee flipperling, curl at thy ease!
The storm shall not wake thee, nor shark overtake thee,
Asleep in the arms of the slow-swinging seas!
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