Part I: Seals teeth and whales ears - Scott Polar Research Institute ...

About 4.30 pm I counted a bull and seven cows way out on the edge of the fast
ice between Gourlay and Reid Island and there was another female 60 yards
northeast of Berntsen Point, lying on her side. By 6.30pm this female had moved and
was heading North-northwest, moving for about eight yards at a time, with long
halts in between. Three bulls and six cows were now visible at the ice edge and one
cow was moving in our direction, about half way between Outer Islet and the shore.
Later Ralph helped me make ferrules for the paint-brushes so that I could attach
them interchangeably to the bamboo poles, and we made a carrying box for the
paints and other equipment. We were up until midnight.
On 10 October a full blizzard was blowing when I went over to see the seals. The
pup at Drying Point was active, though encrusted with ice. It was visibly fatter; no
teeth pierced the gums yet and the pink pimples at the base of the vibrissae were still
prominent. In the green harem there was a new cow, which was larger than the
others, but still only one pup. I tried out the new brushes by painting her red above
green on the scapula; the red showed up very well but I found that the green faded
easily and didn't seem to stick so well. The pup in Mirounga Flats looked healthy
enough. The black part of its umbilical cord was 2 1 2 inches of dry, flaky skin that
peeled off easily. It was asleep, lying back to wind and drifted up with snow and a
sheathbill picked at it. The two lower canines had pierced the gum. Its coat was
definitely the second coat, for the hair was light grey-buff, short, stiff, and lay flat. It
was dark on the flippers, abdomen, head and dorsally and lacked the pink papillae at
the base of the vibrissae. Its mother was much less aggressive than before.
Next day 11 Oct all four cows in the green harem had pups. The red/green
female gave birth at about 11 o’clock and the placenta was just being extruded when
I arrived about 50 minutes later. There was a great deal of blood about and the pup
was barking. The mother occasionally trumpeted, lying on her side, holding her head
up and making a throaty sound like someone gargling. I watched the afterbirth; the
cord extended for 6-8 inches out of the vagina and trailed on the ground until the
placenta was shed. Six Dominican gulls arrived within a few minutes of the afterbirth
and stood in a ring six yards away. Then a giant petrel flew in and landed a yard
behind her; it tried to steal the placenta and the cow turned, roaring, and snapped at
it. The giant bird galloped around, first on one side and then on the other, with the
cow swinging right and left and making lunges; she had recovered her normal harsh
roar soon after the extrusion of the placenta. The bird eventually gave up, began to
pick at the pup's umbilical cord and finally squatted down a yard or so from the
female, which occasionally roused and made a lunge, apparently stimulated by the
pup's barking. The ‘dress circle’ increased to nine pairs of Dominican gulls and two
sheathbills. The giant petrel pecked at the pup's back and pulled out some tufts of
hair, then walked away, cleaned its bill in the snow and settled down. The gulls
moved away from it, two skuas arrived, and the gulls rose to mob them.
The red/green cow lay on her side in the green harem and the pup began to
search for her nipples, beginning at the fore-flipper and working slowly backwards,
up and down. As it didn't find the nipple, the mother rolled over onto her belly, her
mouth white with saliva and mucus. The pup barked incessantly and mother
occasionally raised her head and roared in response. The first pup to be born in this
harem was well developed now and frequently raised its head and hind flippers
looking along its back. Occasionally it rubbed its hind-flippers together and stretched
256