Southern Elephant Seals, Falkland Islands - 2nd Post

This is my second post regarding my trip to the Falklands.  To read the earlier post navigate here.

LEFT:  Young female Southern Elephant Seal plays with her flipper as she watches photographer.

Southern Elephant Seals (Mirounga leomina) are the largest of the seals, with a marked difference in size between the male, growing up 3700 kg (5-7 metres long), and the female, growing 500-800 kg (2-4 metres long).  The male has a distinctive proboscis that is fully developed by the eighth or ninth year.  The male’s nose, when inflated, acts as a resonating chamber to produce a deafening roar. 

Elephant Seals are found throughout the Southern Ocean, although the seals from the South Atlantic stock do not freely mix and breed with those from Macquarie Island, the New Zealand subantarctic islands or the islands in the South Indian Ocean.  A renown diver, elephant seals have been known to dives to depths between 400 and 600 meters for a duration between 20-30 minutes in their pursuit of fish, octopus and squid. 

Click here to read about their Northern Hemisphere close cousin the Northern Elephant Seal.

LEFT:  A young female Southern Elephant Seal rolls onto its back and  "barks". 

Multiple Insemination

Elephant seal males reach sexual maturity at around 10 years of age and preside over a harem of 1 to 30 females.  There are more male elephant seals than females and not every male will breed; only the very best fighters and defenders of their harem will pass along their genes to the next generation.  The dominant male is called a “Beach Master” or “Lead Seal” and his task is very simple – to breed as many times as possible with the females in his harem.  A successful male will inseminate up to 100 cows (female seals) in a season.  When not breeding, he is fighting off rival males which continuously swim along the shoreline seeking a break into his defence line and replace him.

Fighting Rivals

Fighting between males can be a noisy and bloody affair with the lesser male usually retreating before sustaining permanent or debilitating injuries.  However, this is not always the case and if a Lead Seal is beaten by a stronger rival, injuries are apparent from torn noses and puncture marks to disgorged eyes.  Whilst the fighting occurs, females and new-born young scurry to keep out of the way and it’s not uncommon to observe young pups being crushed as males fight each other, oblivious to their surroundings.  It’s difficulty to translate the immense strength that these animals convey as they hurl themselves at each other.

Life as a Cow is not Pleasant

Life as a cow is not overly pleasant.  In October, pregnant cows haul out onto beaches and rocky foreshores, plump from feeding at sea.  A male will often include the cow in his harem and then spend the next few months mating or attempting to mate with her along with other cows (before or after birth).  Once a cow has given birth, it will feed its pup a very rich high protein milk designed to put as much blubber onto the youngster as possible.  Once the calves are weaned, the mother seal will return to the ocean to feed before returning in January to moult.  Moulting can take several weeks and during this time the skin of the seal peels off similar to a bad case of sunburn.  Males moult about a month after females.

LEFT:  Elephant seals do not form family units, but often lie together for warmth or protection from the environment.

Photographing the Elephant Seals

Photographing the elephant seals can be challenging.  For the most part the seals are not aggressive and if you maintain a reasonable distance they ignore you.  But, if you venture too close you are liable to be charged by a Lead Seal, or be exposed to a large jaw filled with long canine-like sharp teeth, to warn you of your incursion. 

For the most part, unless working in very low light or at the outskirts of a colony, I don’t use a tripod when photographing seals.  The main reason for this is that setting up a tripod can be costly in time, raises yourself above the ground substantially which maybe taken as an aggressive posture, and limits your freedom of movement.  Unless shooting extreme wide angle close ups using a 16-35 f2.8 zoom lens, I use a 70-200 f2.8 zoom lens.  The zoom gives the added advantage of being able maintain your position.  If further reach is required, a 1.4 tele-converter can be added to the 70-200.  The benefits of the shorter lens and no tripod translate to being able to turn and manoeuvre much more quickly than with a tripod; often this is the difference between getting a shot and missing it.  Further, if you are charged, you can retreat much more quickly without carrying a tripod.

LEFT:  Female Southern Elephant Seal rests on beach seemingly ambivalent to the 40 knot wind and entrained sand.

The seals stay on the beach no matter what the environmental conditions.  I observed a small group of cows lying beside each other in chilly 40 knot winds!  They raised their heads long enough to see that I wasn’t a threat – or a male Lead Seal. 

Shooting in these conditions can be very problematic.  The strong winds make using a tripod difficult due to vibration, and the entrained sand in the wind continually sandblasts your equipment. In conditions such as this it’s imperative that you pre-visualise your image before actually shooting it;  It isn’t possible to change a lens for a different focal point, unless you want a sensor and lens full of sand.  Furthermore, a cover such as storm cover is highly advised to minimise the amount of sand that finds its way into every recess in your lens and camera. 

I like elephant seals, and what's not to like.  Their large sad-looking eyes just attract you and it's difficult to remember that these are wild animals without any emotive interest in you wbatsoever. I can spend hours lying beside them, watching and listening as they go about their daily routine.  The longer you spend with an individual or group, the more relaxed they become, and although your not a seal (I hope not a female), you do feel accepted as an honorary member of the harem.

Click here to see more images of elephant seals and other seal species

Click here to read more about the southern Elephant Seal.

In my next post we’ll look at some of the penguins that call the Falklands home.

Northern Elephant Seals, California

I have always been fascinated  of Elephant Seals and welcome any opportunity to observe them in their natural habitat.  This is the second time I have visited this seal haul out and as with other visits I wasn’t disappointed.  The first visit was in January when the seals were well into their breeding cycle and the bull seals were fighting other rival bull seals for mating rights.  During this time the haul out area was in constant flux with seals everywhere doing seal things. 

LEFT: Northern Elephant Seals practice fighting while juvenile look on carefully.

This visit was in early November and there wasn’t nearly as much “action” as during the breeding season.  Females were lolling about catching the rays and sleep appeared to be high on the agenda of many of the seals.  Although there was some fighting, most of the bulls were adolescent males under 5 years of age gaining their training teeth; the season was too early for any “real” fighting to take place as the Alpha males had yet to visit the haul out to claim mating privileges.

LEFT:  Female Northern Elephant Seals sleep in early morning sun.

I arrived on site just after dusk and did a quick reconnoiter of the site to determine the best shooting positions and angles for the following morning.  The following day was an early wake up as I wanted to be on-site and ready to shoot as the first rays broke the horizon.  I always like spending time with animals in the early morning; the air is usually crisp and the animals are interesting to watch as they transition from sleeping to being more active.  Also, the early morning usually provides ideal photographic opportunities with soft golden light. 

 LEFT:  Adolescent Northern Elephant Seal scratches whiskers.

Seals, especially females and pups, seem to engender what most people fall in love with; the big round eyes and the slight tilt of the head all suggest a loveable and benign creature that just beckons to be petted.  Indeed, there has been more than one incidence of well-meaning people collecting seal pups and taking them home in backpacks!  What these people were thinking at the time is beyond me; a seal pup does not eat puppy dog food!  However, like any wild creature seals deserve respect.  If you approach too closely they will try and bite you, and I’ve observed instances when a seal has chased a person at an alarming fast rate across the beach.  Therefore, when photographing seals, especially elephant seals that do not tolerate closeness, it’s normally a good idea to use a longer focal length lens such as a 300mm or 500mm lens. 

GENERAL INFORMATION

Elephant seals take their name from the large proboscis of the adult males (bulls), which resembles an elephant's trunk.  The bull's proboscis is used in producing extraordinarily loud roaring noises, especially during the mating season. More importantly, the nose acts as a sort of rebreather, filled with cavities designed to reabsorb moisture from the animal’s exhalations. This is important during the mating season when the male seals rarely leave the beach to feed and therefore must conserve body moisture, as they have no incoming source of water.

The seals can spend upwards of 80 percent of their lives in the ocean and can hold their breath longer than 120 minutes – well over any other marine mammal (excluding whales). The depth these seals dive to is very impressive and seals have been recorded at 2000 feet searching for their favorite prey which is stingray, octopus, squid, small sharks, eels, and in the southern ocean, penguins.  While excellent swimmers, elephant seals are no slouch on land and can move faster than the average person for short distances.

Check out the Northern Elephant Seals video.