Tag Archives: elephant seal

e-seal pup a male

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Ecological

  • Wind NE 5-10 knots increasing to 15-20 in the morning then becoming light in the afternoon.
  • The e-seal pup was figuring out how to roll on it’s back today which gave a view of its underside where the penis hole was visible behind his umbilical cord. A few seagulls were quite interested in the umbilical cord. They would sneak up while mother and pup were asleep to grab it and try to pull a piece away.  By the end of the day there was only a stub left, the birds have done a good job of post-birth cleanup in the area. The mother is very protective of the pup and growls and chases off anything that gets too close.

Maintenance: 

  • Had let derrick engine oil drain out overnight.  Put new 15 W 40 oil in.
  • Cleared ramp and ran the derrick to clear larger logs

Nursing successfully

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Ecological 

  • Wind 15 knots NE increasing to over 30 knots overnight
  • Just before noon, within 24hrs after birth, I saw the pup take what I believe was its first taste of milk.   There seems to be three key ingredients to successful nursing: motivation, location and suction.  All three have to combine for success, there was a lot of trial and error, and what seems to be frustration, on the way.  Once the pup latched on to the right spot the suction and slurping sounds were clearly audible.  Since nursing has begun, both mother and pup seem less agitated, the pup is taking longer sleeps and the mother is getting more rest.

View from kitchen window with elephant seal family in foreground. In the background a US aircraft carrier identified as a “Unspecified US Govt Vessel” travels at a remarkable 24.5 knots according to the Marine Traffic website.

Vessels

  • 1 ecotour

Maintenance

  • Ran the derrick and lifted out 2 logs.  With engine warm, I drained the engine oil out of the derrick’s old Lister engine and changed the oil filter.
  • Cleared debris from ramp.

Elephant Seal Birth Videos 3- wide angle

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

West wind

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Ecological

  • Wind finally shifted to west, 25-30 knots becoming 15-20 after noon.
  • 9 Canada Geese on Great Race in the morning
  • Saw the large female elephant seal and Chunk on Middle rock in the morning and throughout the day
  • One of the heavy blasts in the morning disturbed about 100 cormorants on the NE side of Great Race.

Vessels

  • I went off island before noon and returned before dusk

Maintenance

  • Rebooted UPS in tower to restore communications in the morning
  • Brought 2 empty diesel drums to campus and three old and worn gas cans for disposal
  • Picked up plumbing parts to finish repairing rain water tank and picked up food supplies.

Other

  • DND blasting continued, less frequent but a couple very heavy blasts this morning

NE swell

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Ecological 

  • Wind NE 15 knots becoming SE up to 30 knots at night.  Stronger winds down the the straight produced large swells that battered the NE side of race rocks and broke over jetty throughout the day.
  • 2 Canada Geese landed briefly on great race
  • Still no more sighting of female elephant seal

Maintenance

  • Stocked up firewood supply in main house
  • cleared ramp
  • cut wood
  • communications from tower went offline in the evening

Other

  • DND blasting continued however there were less blasts and they were much less loud.  Smoke trails were coming out of the forest following the blasts instead of right on the coast as usual.  This seemed to make a big difference in buffering the sound, it didnt feel like a car crashing into the house as it usually does.