A whitecoat is a newborn harp

Harp Seal

The harp seal or saddleback seal is a species of earless seal native to the northernmost Atlantic Ocean and adjacent parts of the Arctic Ocean. It now belongs to the monotypic genus Pagophilus. Its scientific name, Pagophilus groenlandicus, means "ice-lover from Greenland", and its synonym, Phoca...

 or grey seal

Grey Seal

The grey seal is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is a large seal of the family Phocidae or "true seals". It is the only species classified in the genus Halichoerus...

 with soft, white fur

Fur

Fur is a synonym for hair, used more in reference to non-human animals, usually mammals; particularly those with extensives body hair coverage. The term is sometimes used to refer to the body hair of an animal as a complete coat, also known as the "pelage". Fur is also used to refer to animal...

.

From newborn to whitecoat

Newborn seals have yellow fur because of amniotic fluid

Amniotic fluid

Amniotic fluid or liquor amnii is the nourishing and protecting liquid contained by the amniotic sac of a pregnant woman.- Development of amniotic fluid :...

, and are still wet. When the pup dries, it is called a yellowcoat. The amniotic stain fades and the fur turns white within a few days, and it gets the name whitecoat. First it's called a thin whitecoat, and when it becomes visibly fatter it is a fat whitecoat.

Nursing lasts for about 12 days. Cows frequently return to their pups to suckle. While she is suckling, the mother does not eat—rather, she draws on her reserves of fatty blubber to produce the milk. Pups grow rapidly, at the end of nursing, most pups weigh 36 kg (80 lbs) or more. The mothers then leave their fully fed pups and join the bulls to mate. At this age of about 12 days, pups first become "greycoats", as grey juvenile coloring grows under their white fur, then "ragged-jacket

Ragged-jacket

A ragged-jacket is the name given to a harp or grey seal pup when it is undergoing its first moult, and the intermediate stage between a "whitecoat" and a "beater". The moulting begins when the pup is at an age of about 12–14 days, at which time they cease nursing. At this young age, the pups are...

s" when white fur begins to fall out in patches.

Hunting of whitecoats

The United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 banned the hunting and import of whitecoats in 1972, through the Marine Mammal Protection Act

Marine Mammal Protection Act

The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 was the first article of legislation to call specifically for an ecosystem approach to natural resource management and conservation. MMPA prohibits the taking of marine mammals, and enacts a moratorium on the import, export, and sale of any marine mammal,...

. The European Economic Community

European Economic Community

The European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) The European Economic Community (EEC) (also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking world, renamed the European Community (EC) in 1993The information in this article primarily covers the EEC's time as an independent...

 banned the import of whitecoat products in 1983. Canada banned the offshore commercial

Commerce

While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...

 hunting of whitecoats and blueback

Blueback

Blueback may refer to any of a number of unrelated fish species with blue coloration , including:*Cisco *Blueback herring *Sockeye salmon*Blueback is a local nickname for Beardslee trout....

s on December 30, 1987.

In popular culture

Seabert

Seabert

Seabert is an animated television series from 1984. It was created by BZZ films in Paris and originally aired in French before being translated into different languages around the world. In the United States, the show aired on HBO starting in 1987...

is the name of an animated television series from 1985, about a boy, a girl, and their "pet" whitecoat seal Seabert.