First, a correction to last week's entry. The location of the excursion was Hannah Point on Livingston Island, not Elephant Island. Our guides who (much to our sense of personal pride and gratitude) are avid followers of the blog, noticed the error and Tim wrote us to let us know we had our location wrong, and we're happy to correct the record! :-)
Last week we showed you the penguin colonies at Hannah Point, where Chinstraps and Gentoo nest together, and even a few Macaroni penguins were part of the rookery. This week is all about the other residents of Hannah Point, several dozen Elephant Seals who were sharing the beach for their molting season, just yards (and in some cases, inches or less) from the penguins.
Once a year Elephant Seals, who can weigh up to 5,000 pounds when fully grown, have to shed their fur and grow a completely new coat. To accomplish this feat their bodies open up blood vessels much closer to the surface of their blubber jacket to feed the skin to re-grow fur. With so much blood closer to the surface, they radiate a lot more heat than usual, and if they stayed in the water that heat would get quickly sucked out of them and the seals would freeze to death. So they come to shore, and pile on the beach together to protect themselves and each other from the elements.
This is a pretty boring time for the seals as they're sleeping a lot and conserving their energy. After all, like a hibernating bear, they're not hunting for a while and they have to make their internal energy stores last. There's a lot of scratching, burping, some singing and playful barking. All in all a pretty lazy time.
This is good for the nearby penguin population, for while penguins sometimes make up part of the Elephant Seal's diet, during molting season there's more-or-less a truce. These seals don't really hunt on land, and they're not really in feeding mode anyhow.
As a result of all this, we got some fantastic photos and found some really expressive Elephants. We hope you agree.
Rasberry - An adolescent male elephant seal resting on a beach of Elephant Island in Antarctica.
- Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
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My name is Doug - My master made me this collar so I could talk to-- Wait, I seem to have lost my collar!
- Photo by Kevin Fox
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Nesting Penguins and Molting Elephants - Every season the Elephant Seals have to molt, spending several weeks growing a new coat of fur. During this time they can't go in the water and conserve their energy and warmth bt lying together on the beach. A natural predator of the penguin, during molting season they're mostly harmless.
- Photo by Kevin Fox
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Leave Me ALONE! - A trick of depth of field, but still, sure looks like that adolecent penguin is getting an earful from this elephant seal.
- Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
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Leaving the herd - This Elephant seal has had enough of his kin for a bit and is going for a breath of fresh air.
- Photo by Kevin Fox
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The Molt - Adolecent elephant seal waiting out the molt on a beach.
- Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
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This next bit was just as cute as it looks. I decided to give voice to the baby penguin's thoughts.
Baby Chinstrap makes an Unlikely Friend - Elephant seals are natural predators of penguins, but while the seal's molting he's not interested in eating, and the baby chinstrap penguin is too inexperienced to know any better. This series of photos tells a story all by itself, but I couldn't resist inserting my own interpretation.
- Photo by Kevin Fox
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Here's that last photo on its own:
Making a new friend - Elephant seals are natural predators of penguins, but while the seal's molting he's not interested in eating, and the baby chinstrap penguin is too inexperienced to know any better. This photo just melts me inside.
- Photo by Kevin Fox
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Pile-O-Seal - Adolecent elephant seals going through the molt and doing so in quite a pile of blubber!
- Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
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Hear-ye! Hear-ye! - This is a great example of a few stages of elephant seal proboscis (nose). On the boys, it'll get bigger each year!
- Photo by Kevin Fox
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Auditions - Molting elephant seals stretching their longs and practiing for the day when these adolecents may become teratorial.
- Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
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Elephant Hill - Elephant seals and numerous penguins just doing their thing on the hill.
- Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
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The Three Tenors - Singing is a good way to alleviate the bordom. If you're one of the singers, anyhow.
- Photo by Kevin Fox
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I Haz An Itch - Elephant seals actually have long finger nails. This guys is scratching a chin itch.
- Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
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I see you looking at me - In the middle of molting, this seal chekcs us out. His eyes are so big you can see the breaking clouds in them.
- Photo by Kevin Fox
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To-do: Manicure - This shot is also a good example of some of the stages of molting. His neighbors are still sloughing off their old coats, making way for the new.
- Photo by Kevin Fox
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Packed like sardines - When growing their new fur, Elephant Seals pump more blood in to their surface blubber than any other time. Bringing the blood to the surface drains heat so much that they have to huddle together just to stay warm.
- Photo by Kevin Fox
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Yes? - Adolecent male elephant seal, hanging out with the molting clan.
- Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
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The one who smelt it... was too close for comfort. - One Elephant seal looks askance at his neighbor for reasons we can only speculate upon.
- Photo by Kevin Fox
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Elephant Duet - It seems like the only movements they'll make are barking, yawning, and scratching idly with their flippers.
- Photo by Kevin Fox
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Operatic Yawn - A dramtic yawn worthy of an opera singer but performed by a elephant seal. I could see him in Opera!
- Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
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RAAAARRRRRRRR!!!! - Elephant seal yawn. A male waiting out his molt on the beach. He yawned a lot. Because most of these are young they haven't really developed the tell tale nose that gave them the name elephant seal. But this yawn helps this guy begin to demonstrate the long nose. He has nothing on his elders though.
- Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
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Read the next chapter: Day 10: Deception Island - Part 1: Walking on the Moon
Table of Contents:
Introduction: Telling the Story posted Jan 10, 2009
Day 0: Positioning posted Jan 12, 2009
Leaving, on a jet plane posted Jan 12, 2009
Day 1: The Herc posted Jan 15, 2009
Day 1: Penguino posted Jan 16, 2009
Day 2: Chicken posted Jan 17, 2009
Day 2: Leopard posted Jan 19, 2009
Day 2: Snow Day posted Jan 22, 2009
Day 2: Shipwreck posted Jan 26, 2009
Day 2: Totally Tabular posted Jan 27, 2009
Day 3: Gentoo Cute posted Jan 29, 2009
Day 3: Lichen Shag Glacier posted Feb 3, 2009
Day 3: Palmer Station Visit posted Feb 9, 2009
Day 4: Icy Penguins posted Feb 11, 2009
Day 4: Adelie Awesome posted Feb 15, 2009
Day 4: Leopard Seal Attack posted Feb 17, 2009
Day 4: Kayak posted Feb 19, 2009
Day 4: Vernadsky Station Visit posted Feb 23, 2009
Day 4: Vernadsky Sunset posted Feb 25, 2009
Day 5: Antarctic Circle posted Feb 27, 2009
Day 5: Polar Plunge posted Mar 5, 2009
Day 5: Mouth of The Gullet posted Mar 13, 2009
Day 5: Ice Camping posted Mar 18, 2009
Day 6: Flamingos on Ice posted Mar 20, 2009
Day 6: Mountain Climbing posted Mar 24, 2009
Day 6: Ice Textures posted Mar 26, 2009
Day 6: Antarctic New Years posted Apr 2, 2009
Day 7: Crystal Sound Icebreaker posted Apr 9, 2009
Day 7: Abandoned Antarctica: Base W - Part 1 posted Apr 17, 2009
Day 7: Abandoned Antarctica: Base W - Part 2 posted Apr 21, 2009
Day 8: Bird Watching in the Fish Islands posted Apr 23, 2009
Day 8: Icee Day - Part 1 posted May 5, 2009
Day 8: Icee Day - Part 2 posted May 11, 2009
Day 9: Port Lockroy - Base A posted May 20, 2009
Bonus Chapter: Baby Penguins! posted May 21, 2009
Day 9: Antarctic Humpback Whales posted June 3, 2009
Day 9: Dallmann Butt Sliding posted June 11, 2009
Day 10: Birthday Whales posted June 23, 2009
Day 10: Hannah Point Part 1: The Birds posted July 15, 2009
» Day 10: Hannah Point Part 2: Elephant Seals posted July 22, 2009
Day 10: Deception Island - Part 1: Walking on the Moon posted Dec 11, 2009
Day 10: Deception Island - Part 2: The Martian Chronicles of Oz posted Dec 15, 2009
Day 1: Emperor Penguins posted Jan 8, 2010
More chapters posted every few days...
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