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

A 'super' bull - the ultimate alpha male - he was very much larger and stronger and
moved about twice as fast as any other bull that season. The Red/yellow bull in turn
chased away a bull in charge of the harem further out, which was a small animal; and
in turn it chased the other bull to the south.
That evening I went out again to the ice edge. The red harem now contained 14
cows and 12 pups. There appeared to be no ‘owner bull’, but four bulls lay on the
periphery of a circle of 500 yards radius, to the north and north-east. The red bull
was at the blue harem, where there were ten cows and four pups. Two other bulls lay
120 yards south and one of them was blue bull. It was copulating with a very fat cow
without a pup; of medium size, she was in oestrus and very cooperative. Either she
did not become pregnant last year or her pup was stillborn. I approached them and
this disturbed the bull, which withdrew and lay with half its body across the cow's
back.
Another bull, recognizable as one of the original two hangers-on at the blue
harem, came up behind blue bull from behind, moving slowly. When it was still ten
yards away blue bull heard it and looked around; the other lay still, blowing
stentorously through his proboscis; blue bull turned around again and the other
came closer. The blue bull then turned, pivoting on his stomach, but the other bull
raised itself on fore-flippers and bellowed when blue bull immediately turned tail
and moved off 30 yards to the north. The other bull then took over the cow, which
lay on her belly and appeared cooperative, but then he had difficulty in inserting his
penis; after several unsuccessful attempts he succeeded. The cow appeared more
excited – in oestrus? – than the bull, which throughout was keeping one eye on its
rival.
The harem bull – red – had heard the noise and moved in the direction of the
couple, but soon returned to his cows. One cow appeared receptive, but the bull was
slow; it lay beside the female who lay on her belly, then rested his chin on her neck
and placed a fore-flipper across her back. When she moved the bull bit her in the
neck and then lay for some time with the front of his body across her neck. The cow
moved her body closer and raised her head; she also spread her hind-flippers
sideways and raised her tail, evidently inviting copulation. The bull then brought his
body round – the cow lying still – and copulation took place after several
unsuccessful attempts. The cow moved often during the mating and then broke away
and went 30 yards north-northeast. The bull's penis was much engorged and it had
to wait several minutes before retracting it.
Two days later, on 20 October, the constitution of the harems on the ice had not
changed. The yellow bull was at Drying Point beach but there was no change in the
yellow harem. The red/yellow harem now had four cows and four pups with the
huge green bull in charge. The green harem still had no bull. At North Point there
were two bull elephants and one cow. I skied right around Signy Island and found
no more elephant seals until Gourlay Point. It was fine and I did a drawing of the
wreck of the Tioga on the way, getting back to base by 7.30 pm. I saw Derek on top of
Jebsen Ridge and he got back an hour before me. Ralph had been to Gourlay where
he had a near miss with an irate elephant seal.
The wooden tripod had taken a battering from the bulls during the weighing
operations and on 21 October I made a new one – constructed of 1 1 4 inch steel piping
from the whaling station, with legs 15 ft long. That afternoon we began using it and a
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