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

several years published a short paper in “Science” that year on annual rings on
the outside of fur seal teeth, in which he expressly commented that internal
layers were not clearly visible. A few years later (l953?), following my
publication in Nature (l952) he looked more closely for internal layers in his fur
seal teeth and found clear structures, including records of suckling periods.
Vic Scheffer was in Cambridge for a sabbatical year, library researching
material for a book “Seals, Sea Lions and Walruses”. We had a number of talks
and exchanged ideas. I had also started work on an illustrated book with a
similar theme, but a few years after the publication of Vic’s book in l958 I
decided not to pursue it further. I had a visit too that summer from Professor
Gosta Gustafsson, a Swedish biologist working on methods of ageing human
teeth for forensic purposes. He was an established authority on tooth structure
and histology, but was very excited by my work and congratulated me on the
achievement, which gave me a boost in confidence. We corresponded for a few
years afterwards. At this time I also began correspondence with George
Bartholomew, who had published on the behaviour of the Northern elephant
seal breeding on islands off California. He remarked on the similarity of their
biology, although the northern species was subtropical in distribution
compared with mine, which bred on the frozen sea! I was to meet him in
l959[?] at Dallas, Texas, when I presented an invited paper to the North
American Wildlife Conference on problems of whale conservation.
I was so busy that summer that I didn’t have much time to consult the
recognized authorities on seal biology in Britain, people like Harrison
Matthews (FRS), Richard Harrison (FRS), Humphrey Hewer and Ken
Backhouse. I was aware that I had achieved an enormous amount on my own
with little support, an achievement that was to have a lasting influence on the
development of seal research internationally. And I formed the impression that
‘sour grapes’ abounded and perhaps I didn’t show enough respect! Harrison
Matthews (later FRS), whose anecdotal paper on the southern elephant seal at
South Georgia, was until then the last word on the species, had been surpassed.
The material that the group of senior people doing research on seal
reproductive biology in Britain had acquired wasn’t nearly as impressive or
complete as my collection and - a clincher - all my material was associated with
animals whose ages had been determined from the tooth layering. At any rate
they didn’t show much interest in my ideas or give me any encouragement.
Colin Bertram, though interested and helpful in many ways, was no longer
active in seal research; his valuable monograph on Weddell and crabeater seals
had been published in l940. Sydney Smith provided much moral support and
crucial help, as my official Supervisor in dealing with the University’s
requirements in registering for my PhD; in some ways I was a guinea-pig for
opening the Cambridge system to remote field work. Brian Roberts was always
interested, supportive and ready to give praise and encouragement, and he
was active on the international political and legal stage of the Antarctic. I
couldn’t have received more help and encouragement from Colin Sydney and
Brian in contrast to the perceived indifference/competitiveness of the ‘big
names.’ I think this had the effect of strengthening the streak of independence
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