Weddell Seal Science

Team 2024 Photo/Video Finale!

Special Report From Parker Levinson With Our 2024 Field Team Photo/Video Finale:

As the 2024 season comes to an end, each of us chose our favorite field photo or video snapshot to share with you. It turns out that our favorite images do a great job showing how the pups grow up and how our field work changes. We start out the season tagging all the pups when the pups are still small and the mothers are spending a lot of time with them. Pups begin to swim with their mom about a week after they are born, but it takes them weeks to gain the physiological capacity to be good divers. As the season progresses, moms may spend time away from their pups. Because Weddells have no natural land predators, the pups often hang out and sleep on the ice while their mothers are swimming. Eventually, the pups get very big and shed (i.e. molt) their baby fur, replacing it with darker and coarser adult fur. At this point in the season, we have already tagged all the pups in the study area and have walked up to every adult seal to record its tag numbers and retag it if needed. Although our field season is only two months long, the pups grow up so much in that time period, and we are fortunate to witness their growth and development. 

Parker Levinson:  I really enjoyed watching this mom and pup in a swim hole; it seemed like it was one of the first times in the water for this pup as it stayed at the surface for most of the time in the water. I feel like this photo captures how curious the seals are, but I also love the slightly overwhelmed look that the pup has, as if the swimming lesson was a little too much for that day. 

Allie Chipman: I love this silly video of a pup. No matter the weather, they make sure to get a drool worthy nap in.

Sophia Rotella: My favorite photo that I took this season was of this molted pup showing off one of my favorite poses that they do. They stick their heads straight up to look at things behind them. I love their big dark eyes and long whiskers.

Elisabeth Krieger: Parker took this photo towards the end of the season. It shows what a lot of our work looks like during that period - we spent a lot of time in colonies checking that the seals have all of their tags. I also love that this photo shows off the gorgeous Antarctic landscape! 

Abram Brown: I love when the mothers place a flipper over their pup. I feel that it really displays the maternal instincts of each mom and their desire to protect their pups. I especially like this photo because the pup has one of their own flippers tucked underneath them and it makes it look like mom is giving them a hug. The mom with her mouth open also adds a little bit of personality as it looks like she is scolding the pup.

 

Prof. Jay Rotella: I chose this photo because it shows the strong bond between mothers and their pups that occurs during the time we are working with the seals and that is at the core of much of our work.

- Parker Levinson
Project PhD student and 2024 Field Team Leader

Pester Pup! A New Short Film by Jeremy Schmidt!

Project multimedia specialist and "Weddell Seals" eBook author Jeremy Schmidt gets us up close and personal with a lively young Weddell seal pup and its talkative mom in this amazing short video. We hope you enjoy this unusual footage of Weddell seal mom and pup interaction!

2024 Field Season Recap with Parker Levinson and Prof. Jay Rotella!

Soon the 2024 Field Team will be on their way off the Ice after a successful and fascinating Weddell seal pupping season. In this 2024 Field Season Recap, PhD student Parker Levinson and lead scientist Prof. Jay Rotella share some of the highlights of the pupping season, describe several unusual sightings, and report on the Weddell seal population this year in the Erebus Bay, Antarctica study area. Hope you enjoy this longer video recap!

- Mary Lynn Price

Profile: Interview with 2024 Field Team Researcher Sophia Rotella!

Our 4th in a Series of Profiles of B-009 Team 2024 Field Researchers:

2024 Field Team member Sophia Rotella is interviewed by Lead Scientist Prof. Jay Rotella in this new project video produced on location in the Weddell Seal Population Study Area of Erebus Bay, Antarctica!

Sophia recounts her surprise at how readily she has adapted to working on the Ice, and what she enjoys most about doing field research on this population of amazing marine mammals. Long-time Project Instagram Specialist, Sophia has curated numerous viral Weddell Seal Science videos on the popular Instagram page that she launched well over a decade ago, and continues to produce and curate today.

She noted in a previous field blog post:

Hello! My name is Sophia (she/her). I’m from Bozeman, Montana, and it is my first year of deployment to Antarctica. My degree is in psychology and human development, but I grew up helping out with various wildlife projects and was also involved heavily with working around horses. I have a range of skills from caretaking positions for both people and animals, and research analysis. I’m most excited to be out in the field around the seals. I predict that we will tag around 600 pups this year. If I could possess an animal adaptation, it would be the ability to fly like a falcon.

- Mary Lynn Price

Weddell Seal Behavior Underwater in Erebus Bay, Antarctica!

A rarely filmed underwater Weddell seal behavior is presented in this short video filmed using an unobtrusive polecam in Erebus Bay, Antarctica toward the end of the Weddell seal pupping season in the late Austral Spring. The under-ice plankton is beginning to bloom, many Weddell seal moms are still nursing their pups, and Weddell seal males are patrolling as they establish their underwater territories for the breeding season ahead. The Weddell mom with her pup in this video responds to an unwanted intruder as she effectively protects her growing young one. The underwater video was filmed by 2024 Field Team Member Abram Brown, including the underwater sound recorded on the Insta360 X4 camera during the filming. The topside footage of the same behavior was filmed by 2024 Field Team Member Sophia Rotella. More info on the Weddell Seal Population Study at WeddellSeallScience.com.

- Mary Lynn Price

NSF and USAP Science Support Makes Our Weddell Seal Science Work Possible!

Special Report From Prof. Jay Rotella:

For us to be able to conduct our field project, many people from a wide variety of job descriptions in the U.S., in New Zealand, and at McMurdo Station provide critical support. Each year during springtime, or about 5-6 months before our field project begins, we work with members of The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and contractors for the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) to agree on what support we’ll need and can expect for the October-December field season.

It takes a network of support to be able to accomplish our science work on the sea ice of
Erebus Bay, Antarctica. McMurdo Science Implementer Randall "Randy" Jones is one of
the many people who play a major role, as described in this new video interview.

Over the summer, each person on our team works with the support team, their personal doctor and dentist, as well as members of the University of Texas Medical Branch to be declared Physically Qualified (PQ) for deployment. Early in the summer, new and repaired field gear that needs to be shipped to Antarctica must be packaged and sent off, so that it can arrive in New Zealand and be air lifted to Antarctica in time for our field work in October. Travel staff from the Antarctic Support Contract team arrange for our tickets from the U.S. to New Zealand.

Staff at the United States Antarctic Program’s Clothing Distribution Center in Christchurch, New Zealand prepare duffel bags that contain crucial cold weather clothing so that the items are ready for us when we arrive in New Zealand. Members of various military branches arrange and conduct flights from New Zealand to McMurdo. At McMurdo, personnel prepare sea-ice runways, manage fuel, and handle the arrival and departure of various aircraft.

At McMurdo Station, various members of the United States Antarctic Program organize and check a wide variety of key items that we use during the field season such as snowmobiles, field gear, fuel, and food. Throughout the field season, we rely on many people from more than a dozen work centers. For example, we rely on snowmobile mechanics to maintain and repair our snowmobiles; carpenters to put out emergency shelters; members of the Field Safety & Training team to provide our team with safety trainings, monitor sea ice conditions, and flag safe routes on the sea ice to a variety of key locations in our study area; members of Fuels and Fleet Operations to have snowmobile fuel available and maintain local travel routes; staff at the Berg Field Center to provide us with key gear such as backpacks, water bottles, ice axes, carabiners, etc.; the Central Communications to manage our daily check-in/check-out procedures for our field work; Helicopter Operations to schedule and conduct reconnaissance flights and travel to/from several sites that we access by air; and Crary Science Building staff to manage a wide variety of items including chemical supplies and our office and lab spaces.

We also rely on many others here at McMurdo for housing, food, and many other aspects of daily life. At the heart of it all is our science implementer - Randall (Randy) Jones, a Leidos employee -  who helps coordinate all the support we need, from the pre-planning in April to our redeployment flight from McMurdo back to New Zealand and everything in between. We truly appreciate all who make our project possible!

- Prof. Jay Rotella, Lead Scientist
Erebus Bay Weddell Seal Population Study

Antarctica Fat Seal Pup Week A Huge Success!

Special Report From Prof. Jay Rotella:

Thanks to the clever thinking and incredible graphic design skills of Liz Widen, an Instrument Technician at McMurdo Station who works with many science teams in the Crary Science Building, our research team has started running a science-based outreach event called “Fat Pup Week”.

Crary Lab Instrument Tech Liz Widen and Project PhD Student Parker Levinson
describe the 2024 Fat Seal Pup project on McMurdo Station, with participation
this year including US South Pole and Palmer Stations, and New Zealand Scott Base!

The contest is loosely modeled after “Fat Bear Week”, where the public votes for “the fattest, most successful Katmai bear" (https://katmaiconservancy.org). The Weddell seal team selected 16 Weddell seal pups from different pupping colonies and chose pups that were noticeably large and heavy, characteristics that we predict enhance a pup’s chances of surviving to adulthood. Liz then presented all the information in an organized and digestible way for folks at McMurdo to make informed decisions on which is the fattest pup in Erebus Bay.

People at McMurdo Station were asked to submit names for the pups, and the 16 pups were then put in a bracket involving 15 head-to-head matches to determine the overall winner. Some of the names included “Rolli Cannoli”, “Blob the Builder”, “Puptimus Prime”, “Galumphing Gulper”, “Meatball”, and “Pupperoni”. A printed version of the bracket was hung just outside the McMurdo cafeteria/galley where members of the community could see photos and bios for each of the seal pups and learn of their colony location, age of their mother, and other interesting/fun facts about the pups and the seals in general. For each head-to-head matchup, the McMurdo community’s members, who do so much to support our project, voted for the winner on tally sheets hung next to the bracket. Just like in the NCAA basketball tournaments held each spring, Fat Pup Week winners of each round move on in a single-elimination format. The event has garnered a lot of attention from the community and it's common to see clusters of people gathered around the Fat Pup Week billboard having lively discussions of the names, the pictures, and their favored contestants. With one contest per day, Fat Pup Week actually extends over approximately weeks and ends with a winner being crowned during the Thanksgiving holiday celebration.

Hundreds of people from McMurdo Station participated: about 1/3 of the people currently on Station voted. It’s been a fun way to engage people in our project and has led to lots of great questions and exchanges between our team’s members and other community members. Fat Pup Week has expanded as interest has grown, and community members of South Pole Station and New Zealand’s Scott Base Station are also now voting for contest winners. This year, the project’s Instagram page (https://www.instagram.com/weddellsealscience/), which is run by team member Sophia Rotella, has made it possible for friends and family of members of the United States Antarctic Program to participate by voting online. Many of the 100,000 followers of the project’s Instagram page have also enjoyed participating in the voting. We’re really excited by how many people have engaged with our project’s science through this outreach effort. We also really appreciate the time that Liz Widen and the members of our team have put into collecting photos of the pups, organizing the bracket, and getting the bracket and voting sheets up and monitored. 

- Prof. Jay Rotella

Weddell Seal Spatial Video Prototype Available For Download!

This season, the Weddell Seal Population Study outreach team is filming in Antarctica for the first time in Apple's 3D Spatial Video format. While the Spatial Video format (MV-HEVC) is not yet viewable as Spatial Video via YouTube, the original edited 4K Spatial Video can be downloaded from this link, then imported into the Photos app to be viewed using XR/3D glasses and the Apple Vision Pro for viewing as stereo 3D:
https://WeddellSealScience.com/spatial/SpatialWeddell4K.mov
The downloaded video file may be found in your Downloads folder, then imported into Photos for viewing in stereoscopic Spatial Video.

A side-by-side 3D version of this video compatible with Meta VR headsets and other side-by-side stereo viewers can be downloaded from:  https://WeddellSealScience.com/spatial/SpatialWeddellSBS4K.mp4

We hope you enjoy our early efforts to bring you Weddell Seals of Antarctica in stereoscopic Spatial Video!

- Mary Lynn Price

Profile: Interview with 2024 Field Team Researcher Elisabeth Krieger!

Our 3rd in a Series of Profiles of B-009 Team 2024 Field Researchers:

2024 Field Team member Elisabeth Krieger is interviewed by Field Team colleague Abram Brown in this new project video produced on location in the Weddell Seal Population Study Area of Erebus Bay, Antarctica!

Elisabeth describes her biggest surprises about working in Antarctica with Weddell seals, including the McMurdo Station community's interest in the lives of these seals. She noted in a previous field blog post:

Hi! My name is Elisabeth (she/her). I’m originally from Portland, Oregon, and this will be my first season in Antarctica. I’ve worked in the wildlife field for the last several years and recently completed my master’s degree. Most of my work has been on ungulate species like elk and mule deer in the state of Montana. I am just excited to experience a unique environment unlike any I’ve worked in previously. I’m guessing we will tag 689 pups this year! If I could possess any animal adaptation, it would be to run like a pronghorn. 

- Mary Lynn Price

Antarctica Weather – Field Update From Prof. Jay Rotella!

Some days on The Ice in Antarctica can be sunny and beautiful. Other days, not so much. The Weddell Seal Population Study Field Team makes the best of the days they are able to work safely on the sea ice in the Erebus Bay Study Area. Then there are days when the weather makes work in the field difficult or impossible to accomplish safely. The past few days have been just such days, as Lead Scientist Dr. Jay Rotella reports from McMurdo Station in the following video field report.

The Field Team receives special gear, training, and preparation for working safely on the sea ice in Antarctica through instruction and support received from sea ice safety specialists with the United States Antarctic Program (USAP). First-time field researchers receive further specialized training and learn skills specific to conducting the field research of the project from the Lead Scientist, Field Team Leader, and returning Field Team members, as field protocols, techniques, and knowledge are passed down over the scientific generations that have worked on this project. Project scientists continue to add to and learn from this unique polar marine mammal population dataset on the southernmost mammal population on our planet.

- Mary Lynn Price

"The Lives of Weddell Seals" – New eBook Reading By Author Jeremy Schmidt!

Author, imager, and project multimedia specialist Jeremy Schmidt reads a wonderful excerpt from our multimedia eBook "Weddell Seals" in this latest episode of our Weddell Seal Science Audio Podcast. This project audio podcast is available through both Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The multimedia eBook is available for free at both Apple Books and Google Play Books, and as a standalone epub download. We hope you enjoy this new podcast on the lives of Weddell seals in icy Erebus Bay, Antarctica!

 

- Mary Lynn Price

Why Study Weddell Seals?

When asked by some of my friends and family members about why the Weddell seal research team goes all the way to Antarctica to study this population of Weddell seals, I try to describe how important this long-term population data is to understanding how this currently stable population of marine mammals in a nearly pristine marine environment really works. And that what is learned by studying this healthy population of seals over the many decades of this unique long-term study can be useful in better managing populations of other animals that are endangered or aren't doing as well. Many years ago, I made this little film with Dr. Jay Rotella about the work of the Study to try to answer this question. Hope you enjoy this older Project video!

- Mary Lynn Price

A Well-Outfitted Sea Ice Snowmobile Sled With Parker Levinson!

B-009 Field Team Leader and PhD student Parker Levinson takes us on a quick tour of a well-outfitted sea ice snowmobile sled in this new project video filmed by lead scientist Prof. Jay Rotella. The filming location is near the beautiful Big Razorback Island Weddell seal pupping colony in the Erebus Bay Study Area. (Note the penguins in the distance!)

Sea ice safety is of paramount concern to the Weddell Seal Population Study field team. The snowmobiles and sleds the team uses for their field research are always outfitted in the field with appropriate tools and gear to accomplish the team's work safely during their many days traveling the sea ice from Weddell seal pupping colony to colony during the entire pupping season in Erebus Bay. Hope you enjoy the video!

- Mary Lynn Price

34 Year Old Weddell Mom Breaks Weddell Seal Longevity Record!

Special From the Field by Prof. Jay Rotella:

Field Team 2024 just recorded the oldest Weddell seal mom ever in the Erebus Bay Weddell Seal Study Area! Designated SPENO 9365, she was born in 1990, had her first pup at age 8 (so right at the average), and has had 14 sons and 7 daughters. She has been sighted in the study area every year for the past 30 years and is very faithful to the Turtle Rock - Hutton Cliffs area. At 34-years-old, she breaks the longevity record by 1 year and is one of the top pup-producing females in the study’s history with 21 total pups so far in her lifetime. Here is an RStudio/Leaflet map of this Weddell mom's birth location and lifetime pup births over the years (to date).

RStudio/Leaflet Map produced by Dr. Jay Rotella. Click Here for a full page version.

- Prof. Jay Rotella

Profile: Interview with 2024 Field Team Researcher Allie Chipman!

Our 2nd in a Series of Profiles of B-009 Team 2024 Field Researchers:

2024 Field Team member Allie Chipman is interviewed by Field Team colleague Elisabeth Krieger in this new project video produced on location in the Weddell Seal Population Study Area of Erebus Bay, Antarctica!

Allie discusses her biggest surprises about working in Antarctica with the seals, and her desire to continue her wildlife research work and education. She noted in a previous field blog post:

Howdy! I’m Allie (she/her) from Highlands Ranch, CO. After going to school in Utah, I have spent my career studying alpine wildlife across the mountain west. I’ve worked on everything from bighorn sheep to sierra yellow-legged frogs. While I love working above 12,000 ft, I decided to switch things up this year and go down to sea level! I’m very excited to learn more about marine ecology. My guess is that we will tag 513 seal pups. If I could possess any wildlife adaptation, I would love to climb mountains like a mountain goat.

- Mary Lynn Price

Weddell Seal Survey Update From Lead Scientist Prof. Jay Rotella!

Field Report From Prof. Jay Rotella:

For 2024, Weddell seals in Erebus Bay are now almost 2 weeks past the peak of pup births that occurs at the end of October. We are now only seeing a few newborns per day. Based on the numbers so far, it appears that 2024 will be another above-average year for pup production with similar numbers of births to what’s been typical over the past 15 years. The main focus of the field work now is on surveying all the seals that are hauled out in the study area to document which individuals are present in the study area.

2023 Weddell seal population survey video by returning field team leader PhD student Parker Levinson.

Multiple surveys are done from early November through early December. The surveys are systematic sweeps of the entire study area, and during each survey, the tag numbers and sex of each animal that is detected is recorded as are the coordinates of the location.

Previous Field Team member Marian Smith records data on individual seals during a population survey in 2022.

The survey data provide valuable information on which seals are alive and present in the study area and help the project learn about (1) the population’s size and composition and (2) the survival and reproduction patterns of individuals and how those vary across ages, sexes, and years. The first survey of 2024 was successfully completed on November 10th. Over the next few weeks, we will continue to conduct surveys and to replace missing or broken tags on previously tagged animals.

- Dr. Jay Rotella

Project Film To Screen At SMM2024 Film Festival In Perth, Australia!

Website images courtesy of the 25th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals.

We are excited to report that one of our Erebus Bay Weddell Seal Population Study's short science videos is scheduled to be screened tonight (November 11th in Perth) at the first public Film Festival to be held as part of the Society for Marine Mammalogy's 25th Biennial Science Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in Perth, Australia!

This august international organization notes on their conference website, "For the first time in its 50+ year history, the Society for Marine Mammalogy will convene in Australia. The SMM2024 Biennial Conference in Perth, Western Australia, will bring together some of the world’s leading marine mammal scientists, with over 1,300 participants from 80 countries expected to attend."

Erebus Bay Weddell Seal Population Study lead scientist Prof. Jay Rotella addressing those attending the screening this evening says, “We wish we could be there in person but are in the field for the Erebus Bay, Antarctica Weddell seal pupping season collecting data and working on analyses to see which, if any, of our predictions in the film are supported by our data. We hope you enjoy the film!” 

This project film was co-produced by our multimedia specialists Jeremy Schmidt and Mary Lynn Price, and lead scientist Dr. Jay Rotella. Much of the imaging in this film was was obtained by Weddell project lead scientists, graduate students, and Antarctica field technicians over the years. Beautiful underwater footage included is courtesy of acclaimed filmmaker and musician Henry Kaiser, legendary under-ice divers Rob Robbins and Steven Rupp of the McMurdo Dive Locker, and Mary Lynn Price. Here is the newly remastered SMM Film Festival version of our project science film, How Moms Matter To Weddell Seal Pups...

- Mary Lynn Price

New HDR Video: Weddell Seal Surveys Underway In Erebus Bay, Antarctica!

Members of Weddell Seal Field Team 2024 have begun their annual population surveys of all the Weddell seals present this year in the entire Erebus Bay Study Area. We catch a glimpse of what it's like to travel across the frozen bay on snowmobiles from pupping colony to pupping colony. Also included in this music video are some of the Weddell moms and pups they encounter on their surveys using this season's new High Dynamic Range (HDR) field imaging!

The HDR videos and photos used in this music video were obtained by lead scientist Prof. Jay Rotella, PhD student and returning field team leader and PhD student Parker Levinson, and 1st time field team member Sophie Rotella, under NMFS Permit No. 26375. They are using iPhone 15 and 16 Pros filming in 4K resolution for our future Weddell Seal Population Study science videos to follow post-pupping season. While not quite the dynamic range of human vision, HDR video comes much closer to showing the amazing play of light and color experienced on The Ice. Video editing and HDR color grading by multimedia specialist Mary Lynn Price.

Weddell seal population surveys are conducted every annual Weddell seal pupping season by the field team to determine how many seals are in the Erebus Bay Study Area each year. Each full survey of the entire study area is accomplished in just 2 days! Because Weddell seals spend a lot of time swimming beneath the sea ice, not all seals in the study area will be on top of the sea ice and visible to the field team on any one survey. So the team conducts 6 to 8 full surveys every year to get an accurate population count and gather other important data. This information is vital to assess the health and stability of the population over time. To get a good sense of distances between the many major Weddell seal pupping colonies in Erebus Bay, check out the distance measurement capability of our cool interactive video popup Study Area Map!

- Mary Lynn Price

Profile: Returning 2024 Field Team Researcher Abram Brown!

Our 1st in a Series of Profiles of B-009 Team 2024 Field Researchers:

Abram Brown (he/him) graduated from Montana State University in Spring of 2023. He has previously worked in various field jobs including in Yellowstone National Park. In his free time he enjoys skiing and biking with friends. As a returning Field Team member, Abram brings his Antarctic field skills working with the Erebus Bay Weddell Seal Population Study to The Ice for his 2nd pupping season. Not only is he more comfortable and confident with his Antarctica field skills and knowledge, he is also a great help to first-time Field Team researchers who are coming up to speed with field skills of their own!

Previously in this field blog, Abram has said:

I am from Boise, Idaho and it is my second season working on the seal project. I have an undergraduate degree in Fish and Wildlife Ecology and Management from Montana State. Additionally, I have worked a variety of seasonal jobs ranging from alpine plant monitoring to amphibian capture to owl monitoring. This year I am most looking forward to full population surveys, getting to see so many seals in one day is really my favorite. I think the project will be tagging 736 pups this season. If I could have any animal adaptation I would want feathers to have my own efficient insulation source on my body, my feathers would also look really really cool.

This field interview and accompanying imaging were very recently filmed by Lead Scientist, Prof. Jay Rotella.

- Mary Lynn Price

Now Passing Peak Weddell Seal Pupping Season In Erebus Bay!

As we move into November, the Erebus Bay, Antarctica Weddell seal pupping season is now passing it's peak Weddell pupping period of the end of October.

Lead Scientist Jay Rotella Reports From the Field:

B-009 [the Field Team] has tagged approximately 450 new Weddell pups and associated them with their mothers.

The peak of pup births was at the end of October and so seal births should start to slow down in the coming days. We are documenting a large number of 9-year old mothers, which indicates that the 2015 birth cohort, which was quite large, has survived well and is contributing notably to what appears so far to be another large year of pup production.

The team is doing well and enjoying the rapid changes in the seal population and in seal behavior. 

- Prof. Jay Rotella