Now at McMurdo Station, I was able to meet this evening with Weddell seal field team leader Thierry Chambert who had just arrived on station for a brief visit from the field, where he works and lives during the Weddell seal pupping season.  Thierry is a PhD candidate in the Montana State University Ecology Department, and lead author with Drs. Jay Rotella and Bob Garrott on the scientific paper recently published in the international journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Science, and mentioned in one of our recent posts.

Thierry reports that yesterday the field team completed the first Weddell seal pup survey of the 2012 season, and that the team counted over 70 new pups so far in the study area.  The pup surveys are undertaken to assess the number of pups born in the Erebus Bay population study area, and their survival over the course of the nursing period.

From the field, research team member and intrepid photographer Jesse DeVoe updates us with some great new photos of life and work in the field, including this portrait of a Weddell mom and pup with the snowy Hutton Cliffs in the background.

You can see more of Jesse's great work on his The Aspiring Ecologist online photo journal, and learn more about the work of the field research team in Antarctica.

– Mary Lynn Price