Summer Returns to Mawson (part 4 of 7)
Friday March 23rd 2001

Weddell seals

October and November is the peak of the Weddell seal breeding season. Along the Mawson coast near almost every breathing hole, or tide crack are groups of Weddell seal mothers with their pups. Unfortunately we were not privileged see any live Weddell seal births, but we did come across a lot of evidence of the recent ones. The most common evidence of the new births was the large number of after-births, a lot of which provides food for the Skuas. For the first few weeks of their life the pups are too young to swim or fend for themselves so the mother stays by their side and the pup feeds on her milk.

A mother tends to a newborn pup after a fairly messy birth.

"Resupply", a pup feeds on its mother’s rich milk. .

I really enjoyed watching and listening to the young seal pups as they called to their mother, discovered the world around them and came to grips with their large furry flippers. Weddell seals are particularly talkative, and the pups start early with a lot of whimpers, waa’s and gurgles. The mothers in return are very protective and nurturing. They usually answer back when a pup calls or give it a gentle kiss.

Mum tending to its pups demands.

A young golden brown Weddell seal pup in the spring sunlight.

To move about seals have to flop along using their flippers and body. Pups take awhile to learn the technique so watching them learning to follow their mother provides a lot of ‘cuteness’ amusement! Pups flippers are relatively large and floppy in comparison to their bodies when they are young. They also don’t have much control, which often results in them accidentally hitting themselves in the face. They seem easily bored so for a source of amusement they gnaw on their flippers.

Chewing on a flipper – a popular pastime amongst Weddell pups.

After a few weeks the pup grows enough to allow the mother to leave it and feed for a few hours. Gradually the pup grows on its mother’s milk and eventually the time comes for the pup to learn to swim. Coaxing a pup into the water is a time consuming task for the mother. She constantly calls to the pup from the water trying to entice it in. After enough calling the pup will come up to the breathing hole and peer in the water or just look at mum as if to say "why do I want to go down there?" Sometimes if mum is lucky the pup will accidentally slip in. When the pup takes the first dip in the water it flounders about constantly trying to keep its head above water. I found watching a pup learn to swim very endearing because it looked just like a young child doing the same. The first swim only lasts for a few minutes, often with the pup clambering out of the hole as mum calls after it to come back.

Mum tries to coax the pup into the water for swimming lessons…

Followed by an inspection of what is under the water.

Weddell seals are also one of the most good-natured and peaceful of all the animals in Antarctica. Underwater they move slowly with a grace as it if they are gliding weightless. While at the surface of the water they gently bob around breathing deeply to refresh their blood oxygen. Unfortunately they are not quite as graceful on the ice as they have to flop along and roll about like slugs.

A Weddell seal, water on its whiskers, takes in air at a breathing hole.

A Weddell seal peers out of a breathing hole at Macey.

All the Weddell seals seem to do is sleep, but this is because a lot of their time is spent out of sight under the sea ice feeding. The afternoons are the time when most come out of the water and sleep on ice flows, or the shore of islands. At Mawson in summer, dozens of Weddell seals snooze away in East Bay just a short distance from the Red Shed. Sometimes as I watched the seals I thought I saw a seal dreaming because they would occasionally twitch their flippers or whiskers. Weddells are known for their singing underwater, but sometimes they sing as they snooze.

A young Weddell seal sleeps the afternoon away in East Bay.

This is very interesting because it enables you to see the motions in their bodies as they make their calls – something that is very hard to do underwater.

Email continues in part 5