My Year on Macca: Spring has sprung

Spring on Macquarie Island is heralded by the arrival of hundreds of mature bull elephant seals. Those in the prime of mating potential (usually around 10-12 years old) battle it out for control over a patch of beach. Their fights are short but vicious, with most sporting an array of old scars, fresh wounds, and bits of missing nose. Those successful are named 'beach masters' and they spend the next few weeks holding on to their little patch of territory until the arrival of their harems.

Right on a cue, the ladies arrive. Thousands of female elephant seals, heavy with pregnancy, haul themselves out of the waves to take up residence in their harem of choice. They leave it right until the last minute, and often it's only a day or two from when they arrive until when they give birth.

Birthing itself is over in under a minute and a 10kg barking pup in oversized skin adds to chaos. The noise coming from these harems is incredible. Within 5-6 weeks the 10kg has become 40kg (I can only imagine the calorie content of elephant seal breast milk) and the pup becomes a weaner. After that the females get a rather brutal re-impregantion (no rest for the wicked) and head out to sea again to replenish some of the weight they have lost. Meanwhile the weaners take up residence all over station, causing havoc and getting into every imaginable nook and cranny.

That's where we are up to at the moment, but come early late November/early December they'll be hungry enough that they decide it's time to learn how to swim.

Until the next installment...

Back in early September the bulls starting arriving and selecting their prime bits of coastline. This one decides I'm there to steal his patch and has a bit of a roar. I leave him to it.

A small break in the fighting and a bit of an itch to sort out. Very Jabba the Hutt.

Back to the fighting. The size and bulbous-ness of the nose indicates the maturity of the bull. This one is definitely in his breeding prime. A couple of scuffs as evidence to his recent fights.

A view down the east coast beaches near station - each harem is spread along 50-150m, with a gap before the next one. The mums are the light brown colour and pups are dark brown/black. The beach master is in the middle towards the back. Challenges from other bulls are frequent, so any good beach master sleeps with one eye open.

Too cute. It's hard to imagine this little chap growing into a 3-tonne blubber slug.

Lots of excess skin to grow into. Just as well, I don't think their skin could stretch fast enough to accommodate how quickly they grow.

Milk bubble dreams

They seem to feed almost non-stop for the first few weeks. A rare reprieve for mum - just long enough to digest a bit.

And before you know it, baby buddha emerges. This pup is probably 5-6 weeks old compared to those above who are around 1-2 weeks. The transformation is pretty profound.

Now that there are weaners around (meaning some females are back on heat) things hot up again with the beach masters. Surprisingly most challengers back down after a solid period of roaring, and you don't see as many physical fights as I thought there would be.