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

and an inch thick, slightly soft, but very filling. We had a large supply, which Jim
had brought along, but as time passed they became progressively more stale and
less appetizing. We took turns at cooking. My specialty was curry and rice, which I
made with a liberal addition of jam, and some of the usual side dishes.
Rona is a beautiful island with very varied scenery and huge cliffs of pink rock
on the West coast. They have white veins of quartz in them and fall sheer to the
water. The island is riddled with caves and one could hear the deep boom of the
surf in them and the 'singing' of the seals. A few sheep grazed and there were
many black-backed gulls, some kittiwakes, and puffins in the nesting season;
migrants pass through and we saw some snow buntings. But the seals are the main
attraction, the largest breeding colony of the grey seal, Halichoerus grypus, in the
world; the species that had brought us there.
The island is about 120 ha in extent, roughly triangular in shape and rising to
116 m at Toa Rona. There is a central grassy ridge running northwest to southeast
bounded by sheer precipices and rocky cliffs. North of the village is the very high,
vertical west cliff. A low-lying, narrow rocky peninsula about half a mile long.
called Fiannuis extends northwards; the fank was set at the neck where Fiannuis
joined the main part of the island, and to the west of this neck was the huge arched
tunnel cave, Sgeildige, which funneled the Atlantic swell to explode in dense spray
through a blowhole inland, quite near the fank. Another promontory called
Sceapull slopes down to the south west and seaward of it are two small islets, Loba
Sgeir and Harsgeir, separated from it by narrow channels.
It was on the northern, low lying Fiannuis that the seal herds hauled out and
turned it into a sea of mud, dotted with dead calves by the end of the breeding
season. Leac Mor, a great slab where it is easy for the seals to get ashore, lies on the
east side of Fiannuis and two gullies run across inland from it - the centre of calf
production. While we were there we made three censuses and found that there
were about 2,400 calves born - indicating a herd of about 8,000-10,000; they have
since increased. When counting the pups we marked them with dye to preclude
counting any twice. We also branded over 200 with the letter R and tagged about
250 with a plastic numbered disc attached to the tail. This was strenuous work as it
meant wrestling with the pups and they are very strong. By the time we left I was
certainly a lot fitter than I had been a month earlier. Strangely enough the cold and
wind and damp didn't affect us; we had colds when we arrived, but they soon
cleared up.
It was very absorbing to be able to study this species of seal and to compare it
with the others I had been able to study. The pups are born with white, or rather
cream-coloured - fur coats and are very lovely. They are soon weaned and then
moult to lose the birth coats and become a glossy silver and black - truly
handsome. Unfortunately we found that about 25-30% of the pups died within a
few weeks of birth. Adults crushed some, others died of wounds, bites from the
adults, etc., which invariably became septic. An unknown number was washed
away by high seas which sweep the rocks; others fell over cliffs to their death.
The adults were rather timid and shy, and difficult to approach without
causing disturbance - a great contrast to the Antarctic seals, which are very tame.
The bulls were great cowards, much more so than the cows, which remained to
defend their pups when we approached.
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