Tuesday, October 10, 2006

The Seal Diary

The most typical seashore mammal is the seal. Grey seals tend to prefer this western part of Scotland ~ the more remote the better. They have a fairly comfortable life, with the sea full of fish close at hand, and a gregarious beach full of their fellows for company.
Grey seals drop their pups well above the high-water mark in caves or at the back of the beach, and the young seal normally lives ashore until he is a month old. In the space of only twenty-one days, fed only on their mother’s rich milk, they grow from small white –coated baby seals into barrel-shaped grey-coated ones. At this stage they are then abandoned and have to fend for themselves. It’s a harsh world.

It is in this month of October that these colonies of seals congregate on our shores to mate and raise their pups. The link below will take you to a few short pre-recorded videos of a show that l watch (was watching last night in fact). It is a fascinating insight into the lives of these wonderful mammals on the Monach Isles. Gordon is enjoyable to listen to with his Scottish accent and running commentary.

5 comments:

Merle said...

Hello horizon ~ An interesting post and I enjoyed the Scottish accent. I had a boarder some years ago from Scotland and
I loved to hear him talk. He came out to Australia in 1956 as a child, but never lost the accent. Thanks for your comments. I have never heard of growing tomatoes in Baskets before, but will look into it. Take care my friend,
Love, Merle.

The Mama said...

Wow, 21 days?? I did not know that. That is harsh. Poor little seals.

I have always loved seals, thanks for sharing the video.

Alice

Nancy Murphree Davis said...

I'm a big lover of almost all animals. Those I don't "love" I still respect. Thanks for sharing the video and for visiting my blog and especially for linking to me.

Carole Burant said...

I've just finished watching all the clips and I must say I found them all fascinating! I've still got tears in my eyes at that little pup that didn't make it:-( It was so soothing to hear the commentator's voice...what a lovely accent!! Hugs xox

Sandy Hatcher-Wallace said...

Those little seals are so cute and do have a hard time with survival. I watched the videos and really felt sorry for that poor little seal that couldn't bond with it's mother...or she wouldn't bond with it.

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