November 14, 1996

Newborn Weddell seal.

Thursday and the weather was still spectacular--although the wind had picked up in the morning somewhat. After a leisurely breakfast, I setup the video camera and the hydrophones for several hours of listening and watching Weddell seals. there were four appearances at the dive hole in the space of two hours--I was very excited as they all involved an animal vocalizing on either the approach to the hole and/or on the exit from the hole. These creatures are extraordinarily agile in the water, twisting and turning with the slightest of effort. Their mottled fur picked up dappling light beneath the ice as they eased in and out of the shadows.

It took several hours to dismantle and pack up my gear. Mike and Rob stopped by on the last leg of their census. A pup had been born in the night within a hundred yards of the dive hut (picture above). The mother was very large--one of the biggest females I had seen to date. The pup's lanugo, or baby fur coat, looked oversized and sagged all over. It would be an intense few weeks of nursing to develop a good layer of blubber and new fur.

I cooked steaks, onions, mixed vegetables and fettucini Alfredo (the latter from a mix, admittedly). We polished off several bottles of wine and the last of the Old Bushmill's. A BBC film crew was due in the next day for a visit. None of the group was particularly enthusiastic about the prospect; nearly everyone had a negative media anecdote to contribute to the stories of the evening. They all seemed a bit nervous and apprehensive that their work would not be represented in an accurate light. It seems as though many media crews bring with them the pressures and expectations of a world which seems so remote from the experience of the field. Furthermore, a couple of the guys had also had experiences of journalists who had not done their homework and knew relatively little about what they were documenting. This often translates into a rushed and chaotic production that, while maybe serving the mass-media entertainment market, doesn't do much for science. Nevertheless, they all had a sense that the work being done on Weddell seals is pretty interesting and should be communicated to a wider audience than just fellow scientists. It is a tricky balance...

At about 1:30am, I headed for my tent next to seal camp to try recording at 150 feet of depth. Rob got his camera gear and walked around to the far side of the island to take a few pictures.