In a previous blog we told you that we think the seals breeding on Rona have different ‘personalities’, and today we thought that we’d talk about noted differences between some of our girls. Take Jolene (can you spot the ‘JL’ on her?), a female we’ve seen here in many seasons – she’s a “feisty lady” and can be aggressive towards other seals when she wants to be, but is a good mum usually. This can’t be said for Femsneck, who has a habit of abandoning her pups, or Sigma who has been known to steal pups to raise alongside her own! Other females such as O8 seem to be pretty good mums year on year, but occasionally have a blip – last year she abandoned her pup before weaning. Other females seem to relish motherhood and can be very socially attentive, for example 15-4 often plays with her pups which can be fun to watch.
Grey seals are ‘capital breeders’ meaning that they breed and feed at different times. This means that Rona mums usually stay with their pups from birth to weaning (approximately 3 weeks) without leaving them to go to sea and forage. Breeding therefore requires a large energetic investment from females – a 200kg mother can lose 80kgs raising a pup. Therefore differences in how females use their energy reserves become very interesting. Investigating ‘personality’ differences (like we do with ‘Cammy’- see Luke and I at the office below!) can help us to view variations in energy expenditure from an interesting perspective: for example, do mums such as 15-4 who are more socially active with their pups transfer their energy (or fat reserves) less efficiently than others, who may do the minimum required to raise their pups to a viable weaning weight? Exciting ideas!..
We managed to record more births today, adding to our collection nicely. These videos will be really useful later on for assessing the impact that gulls in the colony might have on newborn pups (they seem to have a taste for blood, you see).
Today has been poor for rainbows (only 3) which is sad, but on the plus side it was lovely and sunny with very little wind- we could almost have been somewhere in the Caribbean! Pina Colada anyone? Of course, we’re now expecting a hurricane tomorrow as we have planned to do Cammy tests out amongst the seals… (I’m renowned for my optimism you know…).