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

In area 10 there was one harem of 23 cows and 4 pups; several of these cows
appear to be from area 11. One pup had died and lay in the water at the ice foot. In
area 12 there was a harem of 23 cows and 4 pups one of which was trapped in a hole,
away from its mother. The harem bull was [red-mouth-yellow-nose , bull Q]. Area 13
contained a bull and 3 cows, scattered, and in area 14 a cow with a bull had recently
pupped; I date-marked her.
The light snow decreased during the day until I could see across Moraine Fjord,
but it remained wet and overcast, the snowfall varying in intensity. Several cows and
bulls were “snow-flipping”. I returned to camp and tried to start the generator; when
I finally got it going it packed up after 5 minutes and I suspected the fuel was dirty. I
had lunch and wrote up notes.
The total for areas 1-14 was 60 bulls, 292 cows and 41 pups; altogether 393.
I rose next day as the sun struck the tent and loosened the snow, prior to which
the wind had been blowing gustily. As I left for the beaches it was in brilliant
sunshine and deep powder snow. Bull A with harem 6a now had 25 cows and 2
pups; the bull in charge of 6b had 10 cows. In general the seals in areas 2-5 were still
scattered. In area 2 there was a small harem, north of the detached rock, comprising a
large-medium bull, 5 cows and a medium bull The latter was attempting to pair with
one of the cows, very inexpertly and she was struggling and flipping snow onto her
back. Possibly the larger bull took the other male for a cow, or was he just not
interested? He took to the water when I came along, possibly to retrieve a cow, or
perhaps from fear of me?
Harem 1a was rather complex. Bull J was clearly the harem bull, although other
bulls were at the periphery of this harem. Altogether there were 82 cows, and only
one bull that could be considered a rival to the harem bull. Harem 1d, at the mouth
of the stream, had only 10 cows.
In area 8 a similar state of affairs existed as in area 1. Bull C was strongest and
now had 116 cows, of which 57 might be vulnerable to the attentions of infringing
peripheral bulls, none of whom remained in place when the alpha male challenged
them. There were 22 pups. Harem 8c had 14 cows and 2 pups. Harem 8d, now
moved to area 9 had 15 cows and 2 pups. A new pup had been born in 8c.
In area 10 there were 2 harems, 10a and 10b which each had 13 cows and 1 pup, 2
pups having been washed away. 10c had 5 cows; 12 a and b, amalgamated,
numbered 41 cows and 4 pups, and bull Q, with 2 bachelors in attendance. One of the
pups had been buried in a hole by the recent snowfall. I painted no cows that day.
The daily totals were: 73 bulls, 385 cows and 47 pups (plus 3 dead) altogether,
excluding dead pups 505.
I returned to camp and spent at least half an hour getting the generator to work.
Then I had lunch and wrote up my notes; then, after doing various odd jobs, I set off
for area 14 to kill a cow. She was one of a number now dated in relation to
parturition, by paint marking, for subsequent collections of reproductive material to
enable me to work out the post-partum cycle. This operation was complicated
because the cow slid down a snow slope into the sea when I shot her, but I was able
to collect all the necessary material including the pituitary gland. The latter involved
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