Cape Fur Seals impatiend for mating season III

Life and death of the seal pups This time at Cape Cross I thought I would encounter the same scenery as 3 weeks ago but already when me and my guests climbed out of the car we saw dead seal pups lying at the parking lot and picnic spot. There was also one pup wandering around on its own. In the wall which separates the colony from the parking lot is a little open space. So the nosy young seal probably went through it. As we started to get worried the pup found its way back. All the dead pups on the parking lot may have been lost or were brought there by jackals. Arriving at the view point I could see that there were more than twice as many pups than the last time I came there. Between the close sitting seals many pups were lying and some of them crawling around, some were sleeping and unfortunately a lot of them were dead. It often happens that while the bulls are fighting and chasing each other they are in such a rage that they simply run over the young seals and smash them. You can also find little gaps in the rocks and the wall around the colony where pups tried to get through and got stuck. Sicknesses would also be a reason. Usually you find many jackals walking around in the colony but this time one couldn’t see them. It seems like they had so many pups eaten which they always desperately try to catch that they just rested with a big tummy at a nice spot. The bulls are now very busy mating and defending territory and harem. One of them was very close to the viewpoint and after a closer look you could see that almost his whole nose was bitten off in a fight. The bull didn’t seem to be too bothered. It is unbelievable how many of the pups die and yet there are enough to keep the colony alive and even expand it. Still I haven’t found an explanation for the early arrival of the bulls. I will let you know next time what it looks like at Cape Cross.

Posted: Namibia Expeditions by Jan Mohrdieck, Date: 30 November 2007