Seals: Research suggests harbour seals social distance to limit the spread of disease

Harbour seals have been found to socially distance

It might bring back memories of the Covid pandemic, but new research suggests humans aren't the only animals to use social distancing to limit the spread of a disease.

Scientists looked at aerial images of colonies of harbour and grey seals while they were on the Dutch Wadden Sea coast during the spring.

The two species were found to stay away from one another, with harbour seals staying further away from their neighbours than grey seals.

Researchers say the behaviour could be something that's evolved to protect the mammals from diseases.

Grey seals also distance themselves from each other but not as much as harbour seals

Harbour seals have faced outbreaks of disease in the past.

In 1988 and 2002 a type of seal virus spread through the population and halved the numbers of harbour seals, while grey seals weren't as badly affected.

Researchers suggest it could be the memory of these outbreaks that have led seals to socially distance.

The researchers found new evidence that the two species not only maintain distances between their own kind (unlike walruses, for instance, who cluster close together) but also that this behaviour may "reflect an evolutionary response to viral susceptibility".

Studies like this could help future research into how outbreaks in other animals are tracked.