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

Two other females seemed to be ‘expecting’ and muscular tremors rippled over
their bodies. We went over the peninsula to the other side where there were
seven Weddells and three pups, ranging we thought from two to four days old,
and the other cows were ‘expecting’. It was very cold but we enjoyed watching
their behaviour and I examined them for sex and erupted teeth. Of the five pups
three were female and two male. The behaviour of the mothers was interesting:
two were very ‘fierce’ and the other moved away but came back again
indecisively. When disturbed they all made ‘whooping’ noises in their throats
with mouths closed; some gave the usual seal roar. Bloodstains on the snow
marked the positions of the births and the expelled placentas, except where these
had been dragged away by the scavenging birds. There were two white giant
petrels nearby, liberally spattered with blood from the afterbirths and a few
interested sheathbills. In all cases the seals had moved some distance from the
place of birth, perhaps disturbed by the birds.
The youngest pups were a pale grey-green in colour (due to staining from the
yellow amniotic fluid), but the others were darker, with dark brown diffuse
spots. The hair of the older ones was also more wiry, as opposed to the silky coat
of the younger ones. This makes them look much larger and probably gives
better insulation. The pup’s cry was similar to the adult’s, but softer and more
human.
Several of the pups were separate from their mothers, covered with drift snow,
but didn’t seem cold - none were shivering. Some began to move towards us
until ‘cuffed’ by their mother. They moved with the fore-flippers spread out and
the motive force came from the front end of the body, the hind parts being
dragged along passively. In the oldest pup a slight thrust from the pelvis was
evident and it had developed a rhythmic contraction and elongation of the body
- beginning to resemble the adults’ looper caterpillar locomotion. The pups lay,
some on their back, others on the side or stomach, all with a portion of the
umbilical cord, 3 to 8 inches long, still attached and with a ragged end.
The mothers’ nipples were very prominent and projected about an inch above
the surrounding skin - in the expectant mothers with swelling ‘breasts’ as well as
those with pups. Two mothers nudged their pups quite fiercely and grabbed
them by the skin of the neck with their teeth. One rolled her pup over with her
nose and lay so that her body encircled it. The pups were lively and their
pronounced necks made their movements almost snake-like. Their most striking
feature was the large size of their eyes. They snapped at their mother when
disturbed or when she was trying to get them to suck. In feeding they showed no
preference for the upper or lower teat, though they had to lift themselves using
their flippers to reach the upper nipple.
We noted a very interesting maternal behaviour pattern when the pairs were
disturbed. The mother bent her neck sharply and dug her face into the snow.
She then either swung her head in an arc from side to side, moving slowly
forwards as she did so, or alternatively pushed it down with short jerky
movements in one spot, exhaling and making a lot of snorting noises. She would
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