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| 0758 hrs February 7, 2010: Today a new elephant seal pup was born on Great Race Rock . Follow the story below as we track what happens to this new pup. Photos by Ryan |
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| Feb. 7, 2001: "The newest addition at Race Rocks: Sometime last night the second elephant seal to be born on Great Race Island arrived just a couple metres from the Science Centre. Faculty member Garth Irwin who was staying there, was the first to spot it this morning. |
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| This pup appears to be a boy; the mother is Bertha (Ninene's mother) and father is Misery (the younger of our two resident males). This is Misery's first offspring. |
Slash (our oldest resident male) is hauled out on Middle Rocks with 3 females. There have been at least two births out there this year, but the high tides and storm surges washed away the first and most likely the second as well. In this last picture you can see Slash and his harem in the background." Ryan Murphy. |
A minute after Ryan sent in his report of a new pup, at 7:59 AM, Pam from England reported it on Camera 5.
She had taken this photo just at dawn at 7:43.. "Saw the eagle eating near Bertha and Misery ..guessed it was a placenta.....new pup seen when it became light...lying by Bertha's head." |
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| Pam goes on to say "I think the pup had only just been born. It certainly wasn't there last night when I was watching Bertha. At that time she looked uncomfortable and kept shifting about. Misery incidentally has hardly lifted a flipper during all this excitement." PB. |
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| February 8, Bertha and the pup are doing well.
Photo RM.
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Mother and pup sleep on the lawn south of the science centre.
Photo RM
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On camera 1 : Early morning Feb. 17: "The family seem to have settled down very well and Bertha is allowing Misery to mate with her quite frequently. " |
"Misery seems very contented therefore right now and does not seem to be harming the pup in any way. The pup just keeps out of the way when they are mating and then goes back to feeding afterwards." PB |
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| On Feb.13, Ryan reported in the Daily Log: " Misery was observed mating with Bertha today around 1500hrs. Much less of a production than last year and the baby is keeping out of harm's way." However the optomism was only for a few days. |
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| For the first two weeks the pup had done well, nursing almost constantly and gaining weight in preparation for weaning at 5 or 6 weeks.. and then. tragedy strikes.. |
| By February 17.Ryan sent this image: "The pup has 20 or so long scratches across its back this morning. I heard a lot of noise last night and was able to see Misery go after the pup numerous times. It seems that this bad behaviour only happens at night, and the pup is quite chubby and active compared to poor Ninene last year. Still another 6 weeks to go, and who knows what Misery will do once Bertha leaves. I had noticed cuts on the pup's chin a couple days ago, but its perfect baby coat is now marred. Ryan reported in the daily log of February 17:" Last night was a rough night for our newest pup as Misery was trying to mate with it. Tooth marks on the pups chin were evident a couple days ago, but now its baby coat is marred by 20cm scratches from Misery's sexual aggression." |
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