Cannibalistic male seals blamed for corkscrew pup injuries at Sable Island
Researchers determined that corkscrew-shaped injuries found on gray seal pups at Sable Island, Nova Scotia, are caused by cannibalistic adult male gray seals rather than sharks or propellers. The 2024–2025 breeding seasons saw hundreds of pups with these markings (765 in 2024; 359 in a single day in 2025), with a first-hand attack observed in 2024. While cannibalism appears to be a natural behavior among males and is not expected to drastically reduce the ~75,000 pup production at the colony, it may have implications for other nearby seal populations such as harbor seals. The study, published in Marine Mammal Science (2026), notes that the exact cause of this behavior remains unknown.
