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

on the fringing cows, which were moving away from the harem, but the harem bull
‘saw them off’ and gradually forced his harem back up the beach.
When I arrived at the green harem it was in charge of the red/yellow bull. The
red bull (formerly at the ice-edge) came up the slope, but backed away immediately
the red/yellow bull reared up. Twenty minutes later red bull approached again and
both bulls reared up, eyeing each other. I noticed that red/yellow was smaller; the
red bull lunged, bit red/yellow in the neck, shook him twice and the latter then
backed away and fled down the slope on the west side of the ridge. In the south gap
of Thule Islands I found the yellow-nosed bull with a harem of four cows of which
one had produced a pup overnight. When I returned to the yellow harem, the scarred
bull was coming down the slope to the beach, bleeding from wounds received in a
recent fight. The owner was now the formerly huge green bull, formerly exceedingly
dominant, now visibly declining in vigour, with only four cows and two pups ‘in
hand’.
When I went round the harems on 2 November however, the green bull was in
charge of the green harem again, with ten cows in it and another some distance
away. Evidently he was still the alpha bull! He went down the slope and began to
push the distant cow up again, but having no success he copulated with her on the
spot.
By this time we too were all getting very tired from our repeated exertions – the
weighing was physically very demanding. Next day was a rotten morning and Derek
was not keen on weighing, thinking it would be better in the afternoon, as indeed it
was when we weighed three pups, respectively 100lbs and 125 lbs, (both born
overnight), and 278 lbs. The scarred bull was now in charge of the yellow harem,
with ten cows and four pups and there was another newborn pup. Next day, 4
November, this bull remained in charge of this harem, with eight cows and two
newborn pups. The other cows had moved to the ice-edge with yellow bull, but red
bull moved over and chased him into the water. The green bull, in the green harem,
was visibly even thinner and much less aggressive; when I tapped him he moved off.
He had been fasting, fighting and mating without stop for a month!
On 5 November I found the scarred bull in charge of the yellow harem with eight
known (marked) cows. Four other bulls were in the vicinity, three of them known.
We did some weighing and measuring; another new-born was 109 lbs. In Stygian
Cove there were four cows and two bulls, all unmarked, therefore new arrivals –
from their appearance I thought the cows were possibly virgins? From the top there
was no pack or bergs to be seen on the horizon; only some brash in Paal Harbour.
Two days later, when making the seal observations and weighings we
mischievously encouraged one small bull on Drying Point beach to back into the
beach harem. He backed into a cow and turned round only to find himself face to
face with the harem bull (scarred-eye). The intruder immediately began to make
high-pitched yelps and whinnies and hurriedly backed away for four yards, then
turned round and fled precipitately, manifestly quaking with fright – (to be
anthropomorphic.) One pup in the beach harem was dead, having been crushed, and
scarred-eye, the owner bull, attempted copulation with its mother. A new bull came
ashore and raised its head to peer over the ice foot, resulting in scarred-eye, and
another bull fleeing at sight of it. Only then did the newcomer bellow and take over
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