Fur Seals…Downtown

For our last seal experience, Carol and Roger headed to  Needles Point, a six kilometer walk up a rocky beach, where our feet sank into gravel up to our ankles with each step.  We had read there is a large seal colony at our destination “in season,” but nobody ever explained when that season is.

After what seems an endless walk, we finally reached our destination.  Roger scrambled over the rocks to get the picture at the right.  Still no sign of seals.  Just as he finished snapping this photo, he heard a bark and turned to his left.

Not 10 feet from him a female seal 
raised her head from the brush where she’d been resting and stared.  She never ran; she just stood there and stared.

It turns out we were at the Needles “in season.”  A few more steps revealed this scene.  If this were a children’s book, it would ask the question, how many seals can you find in this picture?

The answer is 37.  

For the seals, it was the central business district...downtown sealdom.

The rocks were packed with seals, perhaps 150 to 200 of them…some in tight little groups like this, others spread over the rocks.  About 75 were pups, sprawled out and taking their morning naps.  Roger was very busy taking lots of photos of the cuties.  Carol observed the social situation…

As we approached, the Sergeant barked and all the adults looked up.  She barked again and some of them went into action.  They secured the perimeter, some going out to sea to patrol the shoreline while others spread out around the pups, enclosing them in a protective ring.  They remained sitting at attention until The Sergeant barked “at ease.”  As we both climbed around the rocky point, The Sergeant would bark to remind the caretakers to maintain their guard.

So long as we didn’t “threaten” the pups, the seals seemed to care less that we were there.  They let us get very close…which is how Roger got this portrait.  Since we see this close up, we can explain a few things about New Zealand seals.  Unlike other seals, their ears protrude outside their skulls.  

They have two layers of fur…which is what made them so attractive to hunters in the 1800’s.  Females can weigh up to 100 pounds.  Males, who have much larger shoulders and chests, can weigh three times that much.  

They are great swimmers who can stay underwater 15 minutes a dive and who can dive to depths of 1,000 feet without getting the bends.

Like salmon, no matter how far from their birthplace they range…and tagged bull males are often found 600 miles from home…they always return to the very same spot each breeding season (December-January).

For Roger especially, the opportunity to see the seals in their native habitat was the highlight of our time on the South Island.  For the seals, apparently, it was nothing special.