9
Jun
It was recently published in the journal Polar Biology that a leucistic southern elephant seal was spotted on Marion Island. This was one of the first confirmed reports of leucism in that species. (A leucistic animal has reduced pigmentation). We saw a leucistic version of an Antarctic fur seal – which is not as unusual as in elephant seals, but still a rarity. We found this one in another section of the Southern Ocean, on Cooper Bay in South Georgia. This male seems to be happily holding a territory during prime breeding season. He doesn’t seem to have any females…
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4
Jun
Virtually nothing is known about these Paddler crabs (Varuna litteratta). Grant Brokensha filmed this mass migration of the tiny creatures in Sodwana. The females apparently spawn in the ocean en masse at new moon and millions of the tiny offspring catch a ride in on the high tide to migrate back up the rivers to grow up in fresh water. Why the females must spawn in the sea, I can’t even begin to understand. I’ve never seen anything like it. Here’s a preview.
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28
May
Overnight a light northeasterly wind had been blowing, injecting energy and a defined unevenness to the horizon. We launched before sunrise knowing that our time at sea was likely to be brief. Within half an hour of exciting the harbour Barry spotted a promising aggregation of gannets in the distance, and as we approached it was clear that this was a larger group than two days ago. As expected, the gannets were closely tracking the hunting efforts of a smallish pod of common dolphin. What was also clearly apparent was that their diving and flying behaviour was different – the…
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27
May
After a cold dive at Three Sisters Reef in search of Ragged Tooth Sharks, we headed out to sea in an attempt to rendevouz with commom dolphin. Halfway through our breakfast, Barry spotted a gathering of gannets on the horizon and as we raced expectantly out too around the five kilometer mark, the fragmented nature of the hunting suggested to us that the dolphin were feeding on mackeral, a slender sliver fish that swims close to the surface. After the environmental solitude of the last four days, it was encouraging to see this feeding action, albeit not on sardines. Whether…
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25
May
The female orb web spider is considerably larger than the male. It’s not unusual for up to 6 small males to live on the periphery of her web. They have to be careful not to become dinner to her when they are driven to mate. But mate they do. Pierre Minnie saw how they do it in the Mountain Zebra National Park. And they got away with it!
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25
May
An early morning launch from Latimer’s Landing under overcast skies, and we head eastward into the deep off East London, South Africa. The air is warm, a function of the cloudy canopy above, the wind negligible. Again we comb a similar area as yesterday, marching southwards and then deeper out to sea. Nothing. Its as if all life has been flagged away from this area for now. In the deceptive light we imagine phantom gatherings of gannets on the horizon, watery mirages more a projection of hope than reality, which fade as we approach the spot they should be. A…
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24
May
We launch to another fecund east coast sunrise, with no wind and a surprisingly warm air temperature. Heading south again towards Cave Rock, we comb a square area of around 100kms, heading out as far as 15km’s out to sea in search of action. Nothing. There are precursors of the big action to come. Within that 100 square kilometres search area we encounter scattered pods of common and bottlenose dolphin, sometimes together, usually apart, clearly looking for an early breakfast. Very evident are what we fondly refer to as, ‘footlongs’, young dolphin calves still suckling their mothers and learning the…
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