We had a visitor to our dive hut just before hitting the water today. A Weddell Seal!!!
Weddell Seal (Leptonychotes weddellii) Not the one we actually saw.
As soon as we stepped into the hut and closed the door a Weddell Seal pup popped up in our dive hole for a breather. The little guy splashed around for a bit and seemed to be just as interested in us as we all were in him, peering up at us with his big doe eyes. I should clarify the Weddell Seals can easily weigh over 200lbs just 6 months after birth (and this guys was over 200lbs). He didn’t linger much longer than 30-45 seconds before disappearing back down the dive hole.
We could hear him calling out to his buddies through the ice as soon as he passed out of sight. A great start to the dive trip.
We followed shortly after down the same hole and collected all 9 of the samples we needed to start testing our experimental design. Fingers crossed that all goes well and we can start gearing up for the big experiment without delay.
Hi Rory-
The students in my IB Biology class were interested in your blog. It looks very cold there, but very interesting!
One question that they had was- Is it possible to go to Antarctica without being affiliated with a ressearch team at a university? I think you have some possible volunteers!
They want to know what you do for fun?
What is your housing like?
What type of meals do you eat?
Thanks- And it is great to see you doing such important research- tracy Rojo- Tucker High school