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

Cow ‘green 7’ flipped snow onto her back twice – once with each flipper. She
brought her fore-flipper well forward, slowly scraped backwards, cupping the digits
and then with a rapid flip threw the snow upwards and forwards onto her back. I
had no clue as to the purpose of the action, but thought perhaps it was to relieve
irritation, or it might be a displacement activity, like the Weddells' ice-rasping
behaviour.
The tracks of the large green bull led down Mirounga Flats and I met him half
way across, moving towards Drying Point, as I went on around the coast to
Berryman Bay I encountered the nucleus of a third harem – a bull and a cow. On the
way back I heard sounds of battle from Drying Point and found the yellow bull lying
on the ice just off Drying Point, much cut up about the neck and flanks. While I
watched he flipped snow onto his back, where there were wounds, using a foreflipper.
He did this twelve times in close succession – displacement behaviour?
From the new tracks I was able to make out the course of the fight. The huge
green bull had approached from the north up a snow slope, at the top of which the
harem was situated. The first engagement of the battle occurred at the top of this
slope, the green bull quickly defeating the Yellow bull and pursuing him down the
slope, two further fights occurring before the green bull returned to the harem, after
both had fallen through the sea ice at one point! The ducking hadn't cooled their
ardour! The green bull was on his way back to his harem when I arrived. Very much
larger than the yellow bull and in excellent condition, he made straight for cow
number 1 on taking over and bit her in the neck before attempting to copulate; but
she was unwilling and wriggled away. All this activity was exhilarating and the
distinctive tracks in the snow – and the clear separation of the small harems made it
easy to work out what was going on when we weren’t around. It had not been
described before.
About 6 o’clock three cows were heading for Drying Point from the east. They
came into Factory Cove near Rocky Beach and then abruptly turned towards
Mirounga Flats at 7 o’clock; two hours later they were just east of Balin Point and
stationary. Two bulls lay outside Outer Islet until about 9 o’clock, when they could
no longer be seen. In the evening three more cows were heading into the bay – I rode
on the back of one of them!
A bull and a cow were seen in Stygian Cove on 17 October and they moved
overnight to a position on the sea ice near Balin Point. Next day this harem (Orange)
contained a bull, three cows and two pups, and an incipient harem of two cows
nearby joined it on 20 October. Owing to the apparent instability of the fast ice,
which was expected to break up at any moment, I didn’t visit the distant harems but
binocular observations established that they, as well as the more accessible harems,
continued to increase in size.
Next morning female ‘yellow 3’ had a pup and the green bull was lying five
yards away. Yellow bull lay ten yards north-west of the tip of Drying Point,
decorated with scars that were numerous and erupted – each resembling a miniature
volcano with pus at the outlet. On the sea ice 100 yards southeast of Balin Point was a
new harem of two cows and one pup, with a new bull. The super-dominant green
bull was now in charge of the red/yellow harem and the red/yellow bull was lying
50 yards from the it, but occasionally ‘sneaked’ nearer. When the green bull noticed
this he roared and the other fled; if it came within 30 yards the Green bull chased it.
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