Milk

Ella is getting bigger every day on her mother's milk. Elephant seal milk starts out watery, at 12 percent fat, and gets progressively thicker as the days go on. Ella will go from her birth weight of 65-80 pounds to about 300 pounds in a month.

Elephant seal mothers do not eat while they are lactating and feeding their pups. Every nutrient that goes into the pup comes directly from her. Her body metabolizes its blubber to make milk. More concentrated milk, with less water, means that much less her body has to produce. By the end of the month of lactation, the milk may be as much as 60 percent fat, making it more like mayonnaise than fluid.

Cow milk is naturally about 3.5 percent fat. Less fat in milk is often desired, and two percent, one percent and fat-free milk are available commercially. Human milk is about 4.5 percent fat.

Ella's mother is getting visibly thinner. She will lose about a third of her body weight by the time she weans her pup.

Filling out

Ella continues to do well. She's plumper every day.

Two more pups were born during the night, bringing the total to seven. One mother was determined to have two pups to herself. She threatened, and even fought, with the other mother.

My observation is that confusion like this eventually sorts itself out. However, maternal-pup separation is the most frequent cause of pup death. Disputes like this can have serious outcomes for pups.

Growing up seal

Ella continues to thrive and gain weight. She's close enough to the beachmaster to enjoy the aura of his protection. Gulls hang around, in case another pup is born.

Two more pups were born near Ella overnight. One was on the outskirts of the beachmaster's influence, and two young males harassed the mother. She was a strong defender, fighting them off, but she was under siege.

She needed help. Another bull, less dominant than the beachmaster, but bigger than the young males harassing her, imposed order. He chased the youngsters away.

Keeping the peace on the beach is an important function of dominance. No need to fight: less dominant bulls retreat. They fight sometimes, but more than 80 percent of dominance interactions do not advance to actual fighting.

The new pup needed his mother's attention.

Gaining weight

Ella is rounder and plumper than she was one day ago. She's covered in sand, but seems happy enough about it.

All three of these pups were well within the expected weight range when they were born, 65-80 pounds, three feet long.

It rained a bit this morning, but rain doesn't bother these pups. They seem unaffected by cold, even before they gain much blubber.

A lot of birds on the beach with the seals today: gulls and pelicans. The adult pelicans are in their breeding plumage.

First pup of the season!

The pup was born sometime overnight December 15-16. The Marine Mammal Center had a pool on when the first seal would be born. The winner got to give the pup a nickname, and won some cookies. Julia Stanert was the winner. She named the pup Ella, in honor of her granddaughter.

One docent reported that Ella didn't nurse right away, but she was nursing well by Monday, when I first saw her. She was already filling out her wrinkly baby skin.

For purposes of this blog, and because she has a feminine name, I'll call her 'she.' Actually, it's not possible to tell from a distance whether she is male or female.

On Tuesday, Ella was joined by two more pups, born nearby.

Ella already looks bigger than her siblings, although she is only four days older.