The Antarctica Weddell seal population study's remote sea ice camp is at Turtle Rock this year due in part to the sea ice conditions this season. Peak Weddell pupping season is now winding down. New pups will continue to be born for some time, but not at nearly the rate of peak season. Lead project scientist Montana State University professor Jay Rotella reports, "we don’t have internet [at our sea ice camp] and have been able to work each day without weather delays." While this has limited internet updates on the season as it has progressed, it has also allowed the field team to take full advantage of peak pupping time to get a lot of work done!
Since our last report from the ice, the field team has been able to get out into the field without substantial weather delays and put a lot of effort into finding and working with the seals in the Erebus Bay study area. Notes Rotella in his new update, "It looks to be another big year for pup production with over 500 pups [born] so far this year. It’s also a great year for getting data on time spent in water by pups and on weight gain and loss by pups and their mothers."
Here's an award winning project short video documentary that presents information on work done by the project on assessing Weddell seal pup time spent in the water. As scientists learn more every year about which pups actually survive to return as adults to have pups of their own, researchers will be able to better understand the relationship between pup time spent in the water learning to swim and other Weddell seal life skills, and Weddell pup survival to return as reproducing adults.
For viewers interested in watching stereo 3D videos, here's an award-winning project stereoscopic short documentary video on Weddell pup swimming behavior and survival. You'll need 3D glasses to get the stereoscopic effect...
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