South Georgia Mammals.

 On all our landings on South Georgia we saw plenty of mammals. However, all mammals on the islands are marine animals. The most obvious were the Southern Elephant Seals. The dominant males were setting up territory, and the biggest of these were battling for the right to mate with the females that were also already on the beaches, having recently given birth to their pups. Younger males were practising these fights, getting ready for the day when they would be giving it their all for the right to mate.

Some of the fights were pretty gruesome. Although we only saw one full bodied battle, we did see the result on one poor old boy, with his extended proboscis, the reason they are called 'elephant seals', badly damaged after an obviously viscous battle.

Male Southern Elephant Seal, with battle scars.

 (There were no volunteers to stitch him up).

Scars all over him.

This guy had perhaps had one battle too many!!

Often on the visits we heard the bellow of the dominant males, or 'beachmaster' as they announced that they owned that part of the beach, and all the females on it.

Male Southern Elephant Seal bellowing.

A nearly fully grown male. The proboscis extends as they reach sexual maturity.

A fully grown male, complete with battle scars.

Two young males practising.

The pups of the Southern Elephant Seals are gorgeous.

Those big eyes!!

A very large male Southern Elephant Seal.

One of my favourite photos from the trip of a female with her pup.

The females will feed their pups for just a few weeks before the pups can fend for themselves. The females then mate again, and will give birth the following season.

As well as the Elephant Seals there were also plenty of the Antarctic Fur Seal. These have now recovered their numbers well, from the time that they were hunted for their fur. The youngsters were quite boisterous with mock fights, with the slightly older males being a bit more protective of their territories.

A dominant male Antarctic Fur Seal.

Some were very inquisitive.

Mock fight between two juveniles.

Antarctic Fur Seals.

We also had a couple of sightings of Orca's, or Killer Whale. The only one we managed to get decent photos of was of a female with her calf. The calf was following close behind the mum, but unfortunately I missed the shot with both of them showing.

Female Orca complete with Giant Petrels and Cape Petrel.