Every day, students will spend 6-9 hours in the field with their team, recording data on the behavior adults and pups at different harems. On an opportunistic bases, they will help to weigh and measure weanlings, tag and mark individuals, place time-depth temperature recorders to study the diving behavior, and assist in select physiological studies under field conditions. Upon returning from the field each day, the students spend 2-3 hours transferring the data to cards, forms and computers. Twice per week, in the evenings, the teams meet project scientists to discuss research projects, logistics, reports, special problems, changes in experimental design and to put the ongoing season and total experience in perspective. About the seals.
Elephant seals run on accurate biological clocks.
They are predictable with respect to time of arrival, time of parturition, copulation and departure. During their annual cycle, elephant seals have two haulout periods devoted to breeding and molt. Unlike whales and dolphins, elephant seals are tied to land for all facets of reproduction, save gestation. Pregnant females begin arriving by the end of August, and reach a peak in early October. Females deliver a single pup one week after arrival, nurse it for one month while fasting, then wean their pup by returning to sea.