Weddell Seal Science

A Great Year for Weddell Seal Pups!

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...

- Mary Lynn Price

Differences Among Weddell Seals & What That Can Mean to Pup Survival

The Erebus Bay Antarctica Weddell seal pupping season is now at its peak. The field research team is currently working to find all the Weddell pups born in the study area to identify, tag, and add them to the over 50 year population database. The team is weighing a select group of pups and moms to determine their current weights, and measuring the time select pups spend in the water during the approximately month and a half long nursing period.

More on Weighing Weddell Seals Here

The field researchers must travel to all the different Weddell pupping colonies in the Erebus Bay study area to do their jobs. Their travel is usually by snowmobile. This season the sea ice has been interesting and a bit challenging, yet the field team carries on during what is a very busy Weddell pupping season! We'll update you with new pup numbers as soon as field team members can access the internet.

The project scientists are gathering data to learn the extent of differences--variation--among Weddell moms and pups. As more is learned about variation in these Weddell moms and pups, the scientists are able to gather data about how many pups with particular characteristics survive to adulthood to have pups of their own. Researchers can follow the generations of pups born to particular moms, and are assessing the contributions to the population of surviving pups. The scientists are thus able to learn more about which individual characteristics have significant effects on pup survival to reproduction.

In the following Part 2 segment from our latest project documentary, "How Moms Matter To Weddell Pups", the topic of Weddell seal variation is introduced. Subsequent segments from this original 14 minute project documentary highlight the effects that such differences among Weddell moms and pups can have as to whether a pup will survive to adulthood and reproduction, and which of those moms are so successful that they have numerous pups, some of which go on to also become very successful moms...Weddell seal super moms!

The entire 14 minute project documentary "How Moms Matter To Weddell Pups" can be viewed on our Weddell Seal Science YouTube Channel.

Below, is an earlier project documentary on Weddell seal variation, "Being Different if You're a Weddell Seal in Antarctica". This previous documentary goes into some detail about the kinds of variation among Weddell seals that the scientists are finding. The new documentary, "How Moms Matter To Weddell Pups", takes everything a step further by presenting some of what the scientists have learned to date about the effects on pup survival of particular characteristics among Weddell moms and pups. Here is that full video for a bit of background:

- Mary Lynn Price

Weddell Pup Life Lessons

Weddell seal pups spend around 6 weeks after birth with their moms nursing, gaining a lot of weight, learning to get in and out of the cold Antarctic water, learning to swim well, and learning about how best to survive to adulthood by watching their moms interact with other seals in the pupping colonies. Then at around 45 days, Weddell moms leave their pups to fend for themselves with what they've learned during the nursing period. Only some 20% of female Weddell pups will survive to adulthood to have pups of their own. Here's the latest short-short Weddell Seal Science project video by Jeremy Schmidt on "Pup Life Lessons":

It's peak Weddell seal pupping season around the pupping colonies in Erebus Bay, Antarctica right now. The Weddell seal population study field team is extremely busy finding, recording, and tagging all the new pups born in the study area. Field researchers are also busy determining how much time a selection of Weddell pups spends in the water during this first 45 days of life. The field team works throughout the pupping season to determine the mass (weight) of a select group of moms and pups with known ancestries. These pups will be weighed three times during the nursing season, once near birth, and then again at the mid-nursing period, and finally at 45 days near the very end of the nursing season right before their moms leave them to survive on their own. The scientists have learned that there is wide variation among Weddell pups in all these areas, including how old and experienced their moms are, at what point during the pupping season they are born, weight at birth, weight gained during the nursing period, and time spent in the water learning to swim well. These individual characteristics, the scientists are learning, affect the Weddell pups' chances of becoming one of those 20% of female pups to survive to adulthood and have pups of their own.

- Mary Lynn Price