A seal pup with a black coat was rescued by the team from the Cornish Seal Sanctuary recently - a find that is a 1 in 400 chance.

The latest admission to the seal hospital was a female grey seal pup who was found malnourished and with a suspected respiratory infection.

The Cornish Seal Sanctuary said that the chances are that only 1 in 400 seal pups could be born with melanism - increased development of the dark-coloured pigment melanin in the skin or hair.

And the fact she is a female makes it that much rarer, as they are naturally lighter in colour than male seals.

A spokesperson for the seal sanctuary said:

"This seal pup, now named Egg, is recovering well in our hospital and slowly gaining weight.

"Despite going through three lockdowns and various restrictions, the pup rescue and rehabilitation work at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary has carried on as normal, battling against devastating financial losses.

"We have continued our vital conservation work in order to support seal pups from around the Cornish coastline."

This season so far, the Sanctuary has had 36 casualties of the sea go through their seal rehabilitation programme, with 16 of these pups now successfully released back into the wild after receiving expert care and treatment from the Sanctuary's animal care team.

Click here to see more from Cornish Seal Sanctuary.

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