Seal and emperor penguin survey, The table summarizes the counts made during aerial sur- veys. Cape Adare was the most diverse area. (It was also Victoria Land Coast teeming with Adlie penguins as the chicks were in the proc- ess of fledging and leaving the Ridley Beach rookery.) At least one elephant seal was immature. The other two may have G. L. KOOYMAN been immature males or adult females. A number of the leopard seals were small and presumably Physiological Research Laboratory young animals. We were impressed with the large number of Scripps Institution of Oceanography leopard seals present on our last flight at Cape Adare. We University of California, San Diego wondered if this was less than coincidental since the Ad€lie Lajolla, California 92093 chicks had just begun to leave the rookery in large numbers. The farther south into the Ross Sea the larger the absolute R. L. GENTRY number of Weddell seals and the relative number of Weddell Marine Mammal Laboratory seals to other seals. Few Weddell seal pups were seen on any Northwest Marine Fisheries Center of the surveys. Of the leopard seals seen in the Ross Sea many Sand Point Naval Air Station seemed to be young animals. In each area of animal con- Seattle, Washington 98115 centrations there seemed to be a few killer whales. During the entire cruise from 2-9 February a total of only 15 adult emperor penguins were seen; two near Beaufort Is- land, three in the vicinity of Coulman Island, three near In early February 1978 we had the opportunity to survey Moubray Bay, three off Cape Washington and four near the by air areas of known seal and emperor penguin concentra - tip of Drygalski Glacier. tions along the Victoria Land coast. Such observations so late Of special interest to us were the conditions at the emperor in the austral summer are unusual. Of special interest were penguin rookery sites. In every case (including Cape Roget, the location of relative densities of the various antarctic seals, Coulman Island, Cape Washington, and Beaufort Island-.--- the occurrence of pup Weddell seals, and the presence or ab- most of the known rookeries in the Ross Sea except Cape sence of emperor penguin chicks at the rookeries. Crozier and Franklin Island) the sea ice upon which the The eight surveys were conducted in U.S. Coast Guard rookeries had been located had disappeared. In one instance, H52 helicopters based on the icebreaker Burton Island. For a chick with large down patches was seen on a floe 55 safety reasons two aircraft were flown on parallel tracks. The kilometers offshore from Cape Washington. A hummock on usual altitude was 150 meters, but this varied considerably the floe provided some shelter. Guano stain indicated the depending on the need. For example, when the identification chick had been there a long time. It did not enter the water as of a seal was impossible from the original position, the track we hovered nearby, and we suspect that it had never been in and altitude were changed. These track deviations resulted in the water. some overlap in counts between the two aircraft. All flights The amount of open water at the rookeries indicated that lasted nearly 2 hours. Weather was clear and temperatures the break-up and dispersal had occurred more than just a few and wind were mild on most flights. The last flight at Cape days before. If the downy chick we saw was not unusually late Adare was overcast, and the flight from Cape Washington to in moulting, then the disintegration of the rookeries at all of Gerlache inlet was overcast and windy, with some snow flur- the Ross Sea sites occurred prior to the time that chicks are ries. capable of entering the water. The following days or weeks

Seals observed from the air.

Number of each species counted Ice Feb- conditions L. L. Car- L. 0. M. 0. ruary Time Locality (Okta) Weddelli cinophagus hydruga rossi leonina orca 4 0900-1100 5 n.mi. E. Cape ito 6 25 90 25 1 0 27 Oakley to C. Adare 1600-1800 Robertson Bay and 3to6 10 55 10 0 1 27 E. Cape Adare 5 1015-1150 Robertson Bay 3to6 20 85 20 0 0 27 1500-1700 Robertson Bay 25 70 42 0 2 0 6 0900-1100 Moubray Bay 8tofast 55 17 4 0 0 2 ice 1825-2002 Coulman Island 7 68 4 2 0 0 0 7 2320-0120 Cape Washington to Fast ice 630 0 0 0 6 Gerlache Inlet 9 1600-1800 Cape Royds to Fast ice 1584 ii 4 0 0 6 Pram Pt.

156 ANTARCTIC JOURNAL could be exceptionally hazardous for the chicks if the floes pups from 4 to 20. The entire slope contained 12 bulls, 222 they go to sea on do not continue to be substantial platforms cows, and 114 pups. Additional elephant seals were seen in for them until their down is lost. the distance along the coast west of Stranger Point, but they We appreciate the support and hospitality of the crew of could not be censused accurately. the Burton Island, and especially the willingness and Apparently 12 October was near the peak pupping time; enthusiasm of Lieutenant Commander Robert Melvin and about half of the cows had pups, many less than 24 hours old. his helicopter group. This is close to the Signy and South Georgia Islands mid- This reasearch was supported by National Science Foun- October pupping peaks (Laws, 1956) but is later than at dation grant DPP 76-23424. Peninsula Valdes colonies (42° to 43°S.64°W.), the north- ernmost southern elephant rookery, where pupping peaks in mid-September (LeBoeuf and Petrinovich, 1974; Scolaro, 1976). Thus, breeding times vary from 3 to 4 weeks between the northernmost and the southernmost rookeries. The overall cow to bull ratio at Stranger Point was 18.5:1, higher than either the 10.3:1 Macquarie I. ratio (Carrick and Breeding status of southern Ingham, 1962) or the 13:1 South Georgia ratio (Carrick et al., elephant seals at King George 1962). The relative dearth of young bulls here might explain this difference. The 27.8 cows per 1 harem bull ratio resembles Island the young South Georgia bulls (24:1) and young peripheral bulls at Macquarie I. (30:1), but is less than the Macquarie overall 48:1 harem bull ratio (Carrick et al., 1962). This sug- gests that either the number of available females is limited at D. MULLER-SCHWARZE, E. C. WALTZ, Stranger Point or that these bulls are young and therefore in- W. TRIvELPIECE, and N.J. V0LKMAN capable of defending and inseminating more females (see Department of Environmental and Forest Biology Laws, 1956). Either explanation suggests a relatively young SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry age distribution at this site. Syracuse, New York 13210 A smaller breeding colony exists at Point Thomas in Ad- miralty Bay (62° 10S.58°30W.). From 13 October to 4 December we observe several loosely defined seal groups, totaling one mature harem bull and from 6 to 8 females with Records of antarctic and subantarctic pinniped popula- pups. Frequent turnover of individuals in the groups pre- tions are spotty because site visits by field researchers have vented exact counts. Larger numbers of seals hauled out to been irregular. Population counts are important for future molt in early November. On 13 November we noted 2 mature research, especially for species having changing population bulls (proboscis developed), 45 immature bulls and cows, sizes. and 5 calves along a 2-mile section of the beach. We also ob- Southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina australis) and served Weddell (Leptonychotes weddelli) and leopard seals (Hy- southern fur seal (Arctocephalus tropicalis gazella) populations with young. were drastically reduced by 19th century scalers, but have drurga leptonyx) We encourage visitors to these and other South Shetland been increasing in recent decades (Bonner, 1968; Carrick Island sites to census the pinnipeds so that population trends and Ingham, 1962). In the maritime antarctic region fur seal can be documented better. populations have increased at South Georgia and in the South Shetlands (Erickson et al., 1971; Laws, 1973; D. F. Par- melee, personal communication, 1977), but little is known about South Shetland elephant seals. Laws (1953) estimated the 1951 breeding population of the entire archipelago at 250 References animals. Livingston and King George Islands contain the largest concentrations of non-breeding elephant seals in the South Shetlands (10,000 and 7,000 respectively) (Aguayo, Aguayo, A. L. 1970. Census of pinnipedia in the South Shetland Is- 1970), but there are no recent breeding population estimates. lands. In: Antarctic Ecology (M. W. Holdgate, ed.). 395-397. On 12 October 1976 D. Muller-Schwarze, E. Waltz and Academic Press, London. W. Trivelpiece of the State University of New York, Syracuse Bonner, W. N. 1968. The fur seal of south Georgia. British Antarctic visited Stranger Point, King George (62°16S.58°37W.), the Survey Scientific Report, 56, London. site of the southernmost record of elephant seal breeding (In- Carrick, R., S. E. Csordas, and S. E. Ingham. 1962. Studies on the gham, 1957). D. B. Siniff (personal communication, 1978) southern elephant seal, Mirounga leonina L. IV. Breeding and found 1 female with a pup together with a group of 12 development. C.S.I.R.0. Wildlife Research, 7: 161-197. subadult males and 2 adults of undetermined sex in the Carrick, R, and S. E. Ingham. 1962. Studies on the southern Gerlache Straits at 64°50S.62°40W., 150 miles to the south. elephant seal. V. Population dynamics and utilization. C.S.I.R.O. There is no other evidence of elephant seals breeding here.) Wildlife Research, 7: 198-210. Stranger Points eastern snow-slope contained a main colony Erickson, A. W., Siniff, D. B., Cline, D. R., and R. J . Hofman. Dis- and four satellite colonies. The main colony had 4 groups, tributional ecology of Antarctic seals. 1971. Proceedings of Sym- each with 1 "harem bull" and from 28 to 52 females. The 145 posium on Antarctic Ice and Water Masses (G. Deacon, ed.). Tokyo, females had 76 pups, from 11 to 31 per group. Each satellite Japan, September 1970. SCAR pp. 55-76. colony had a harem bull; one had one peripheral bull, and Ingham, S. E. 1957. Elephant seals on the Antarctic Continent. another had three. Numbers of females ranged from 9 to 42, Nature, 180: 1215-1216.

157 October 1978