Crabeater Seal (Lobodon carcinophaga) / Morning navigation to Booth Island's Salptrire Bay, a 3 km (1.9 mi) wide bay indenting the north shore of Booth Island, in the Wilhelm Archipelago. It was charted by the third French Antarctic expedition (190305) under the command of Jean-Baptiste Charcot. Charcot established the expedition's winter base at Port Charcot in 1904. A cairn at Port Charcot, with a wooden pillar and a plaque inscribed with the names of the members of the French expedition, has been designated a Historic Site or Monument, by a Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting. In the late morning, due to excessive ice, we took a zodiac cruise of Salptrire Bay (650356S 640108W) along the west side of Booth Island and waited for better conditions in the afternoon to make a landing at Port Charcot.
Attribution: Latitia Kernalguen. A harem of 127 females is a prize that has to be earned. Where female Southern Elephant Seals (Mirounga leonina) provide all the parental care, they will only reproduce in the territory of the biggest males, the biggest fathers for their offspring. Females average 400 to 900kg, while males weigh up to 4 tons; Southern Elephant Seals show the largest sexual dimorphism among land breeding mammals. When a male challenges the head of a harem he needs to prove his strength at a great cost, resulting in a fascinating and captivating fight between the two giants.Winner: Behavioural and Physiological Ecology.BMC Ecology 2013, 13:6 doi:10.1186/1472-6785-13-6www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6785/13/6
[syn. Monachus schauinslandi]Hawaiian monk seal or lioholoikauauaEndemic to the Hawaiian Islands IUCN: EndangeredKaena Point, Oahu, Hawaiian Islandszookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=3807