Daily Archives: Thursday,January 14, 2016

Elephant Seal Birth Videos 3- wide angle

Posted on by

This 3 minute video shows the birth at a wide angle taken on a gopro camera mounted on top of the bunker/desalinator building.  The camera is in a weatherproof housing so the sound is not very good.

At 0:45 the pup is out
At 1:40 Chunk starts climbing over the pathway
And at 2:27 Chunk comes in contact with the pup

Other birth videos:

See Elephant Seal Birth part 1- start and end of birth
See Elephant Seal Birth part 2
See Elephant Seal Birth part 3 wide angle
See Elephant Seal Birth part 4

Mother and pup vocalizations

Elephant Seal Birth part 4–Male Interacts

Posted on by

This video shows the first contact and interaction between the pup and Chunk.

Below, more interactions between pup, mother and Chunk. The pup is starting to be more vocal.

Other birth videos:

See Elephant Seal Birth part 1- start and end of birth
See Elephant Seal Birth part 2
See Elephant Seal Birth part 3 wide angle
See Elephant Seal Birth part 4

 

Elephant Seal Birth Videos 2–Mother and Pup Interactions

Posted on by

Pup and mother vocalizations, Chunk is heard vocalizing out of the frame.  A seagull feasts on the nutrient dense placenta.

Mother and pup close up, vocalizations.

The pup is looking to nurse but seems like it hasn’t figured out the mechanics of it yet.

Continue on to the next post for complete birth sequence.

See Elephant Seal Birth part 1- start and end of birth
See Elephant Seal Birth part 2

Mother and pup vocalizations
See Elephant Seal Birth part 3
See Elephant Seal Birth part 4

Elephant Seal Birth Videos –The delivery

Posted on by

Above, the mother elephant seal is having contractions. The pups nose and head start to become visible at the end of the clip.

The pup is born, steaming in the sun and the mother starts calling to it.

See Elephant Seal Birth part 1- start and end of birth
See Elephant Seal Birth part 2
See Elephant Seal Birth part 3 wide angle
See Elephant Seal Birth part 4

 

e-seal pup born

Posted on by

Ecological 

  • Wind 10-15 knots East picking up to 20 and returning to NE. Atmospheric pressure peaked in the morning at 1015 hPa
  • Elephant seals: Last night around 20:00 hrs there was some commotion right outside the main house. I shone the torch out and could see that Chunk was on top of Chuckles and had him cornered right up against the basement door of my house.  Eventually they got disentangled. In the morning, Chuckles was at base of tower, bloodied with a few new gashes.  Also in the morning, the female elephant seal was hauled out at centre of island between flag and desalinator room.  She wasn’t moving around much and Chunk was not bothering her. Around noon she started having waves of contractions.  The pups nose then head became visible and after a few minutes the pup was out, around 13:30 hrs, steaming and wide eyed.  She started vocalizing to the pup right away so Chunk woke up from his slumber to see what was going on.  He climbed over the centre path and came over to the pup, the mother seemed to protest but Chunk was persistent. He was fairly careful not to harm the pup though he put his mouth over its head and was close to steam rolling the pup a few times while chasing after her.  By nightfall the pup had not started nursing though had been trying to find something to latch on to. Chunk left after dark, presumably down the ramp. Mother and pup were sleeping soundly around 21:30hrs when I went up the tower to reboot UPS to restore phone and internet connection.

Maintenance

  • Installed replacement plumbing parts for overflow pipe of rainwater tank
  • cleared ramp
  • got together materials needed to repair NW gutter on main house
  • Rebooted UPS in tower