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

On 3 October in area 6 bull A now had 60 cows and 14 pups. Harem 6b
numbered 17 cows and 3 newborn pups, the mothers of which I date-marked. A
small harem, 2a, now contained 12 cows; it was south of the second detached rock.
Harem 1e had 11 cows and 1 pup and 1f, 6 cows and 2 pups; a new harem 1g
(which might have been part of 1f) had 10 cows and a pup. The bull lay between f
and g. Harem 1a now numbered 69 cows and 31 pups, with bull J. Another bull had
18 cows and 4 pups. Between 1a and 1d was a group of 10 cows with a bull; 1d had
25 cows and 8 pups (+ 1 dead).
There was now a harem in area 7 recorded as – 7a with 15 cows and 1 pup,
rather scattered.
At the south end of 8 was a bull with 35 cows and 17 pups. There was a wide
band with only a few scattered cows between this and 8a. Bull C had 87 cows and 29
pups, covering a large area. Two bachelors lay 50 yards from him, on the outskirts.
Harem 8g had 5 cows; 8f 19 cows and 6 pups; 8d had 49 cows and 8 pups; 8c had 7
cows and 1 pup. The rest were scattered in distribution.
Harem 10a, reforming under bull P, had only 2 cows. 12a had 28 cows and 8
pups and bull F had moved to the beach; 12b contained 35 cows and 8 pups. Bull F
apparently controlled both groups. The harem in area 14 had dissolved. Totals for
areas 1-14 were: 72 bulls, 613 cows, 158 pups including dead ones.
In harem 8d I observed the birth of a pup:
‘The cow lies on her belly, the hind flippers apart, and raises herself on
the fore-flipper, expelling the pup in jerks. She remains a while with the
pup half out (0958-1007) and then begins moving the hind flippers from
side to side. Then she swings her hind end through about 15° and faces
downhill, raising her body on the fore-flippers at each move. She turns
through another 20° and begins to move downhill a few yards. She turns
30° the other way and moves downhill, swinging slightly to left and right,
the pup’s head sticks a little and with a final jerk it comes out at 1012. It
was born tail first, the whole process having taken about 20 minutes. The
cow lies quietly for another few moments until the pup begins to move
and make noises. The pup takes its first breath at about half a minute after
birth. Whenever the pup snuffles the cow turns partly and makes a
throbbing moan, with the tongue half out. At 1015 she swings around to
nuzzle the pup and the cord drags out part of the placenta. I believe that
normally this movement breaks the cord.’
I returned to camp for lunch at 12.30. After lunch there was no sign of Arthur so
I decided he wasn’t coming and left for area 12 to kill a date-marked cow. Having
accomplished this and concluded the examination, despite interference from the bull,
I heard a motor and saw the Pesca launch. I walked back to the camp along the shore
and Mr Larsen, the Skuseths and Arthur landed from the launch. They brought with
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