In the photo above by Weddell seal field researcher Jessica Farrer, double lenticular clouds can be seen above the field team's Erebus Glacier Tongue sea ice camp. The remote field camp location gives the field team better access to the many Weddell seal pupping colonies studied by the Montana State University based project in the Erebus Bay area of Antarctica's Ross Sea.
The field team reports that approximately 525 pups have been tagged so far this season in the Erebus Bay study area. Pup births in the Erebus Bay area have now nearly ceased, and most of the pups are already in the water learning how to swim with their moms. The team is now shifting its focus from tagging new pups to weighing the pups at mid-lactation and weaning.
In the image below, field researchers Darren Roberts and Jessica Farrer work as a team to affix a small tag to a Weddell pup's rear flipper as the mom looks on. This pup will be added to the extensive database of this long-running population and mass dynamics study.
If the age of the Weddell mom is known, the pup may be weighed at tagging, then weighed again midway through the nursing period, and once more at weaning around 5 to 6 weeks after birth.
The mass of Weddell seal pups is very important to their survival. Weddell seal researchers are gaining new insights into the environmental and individual factors that affect the mass of Weddell moms and their pups, and consequently seal survival.
Here's a short video about some of the recent research work of the Weddell seal project investigating the role of Weddell seal pup mass and pup swimming behavior in Weddell seal survival:
- Mary Lynn Price
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