Weddell seal twin pups have been sighted and tagged this season by the Weddell seal field research team at Turks Head Weddell seal colony.  Weddell seal field team leader and Montana State University PhD student Thierry Chambert reports that the Weddell mom is 21 years old and has had 11 pups prior to this season.  These new twins bring her pup total to 13 pups born to date over her lifetime.

This Weddell mom was born in 1991 at Turks Head Weddell seal pupping colony.  After that, she was not seen again by the study team until age 3 at Turks Head, and again at age 4 at Tent Island.  She was seen at age 6 at both Tryggve and Big Razorback Island Weddell seal colonies.

She had her first pup when she was 7 years old at North Base Weddell seal colony.  Following her first pup at North Base, she has given birth to all of her subsequent pups at Turks Head colony where she was born, pupping at ages 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and now having twins at age 21.  She skipped pupping at ages 10, 12, and 14. 

This information is accessible to project scientists through the extensive long-term database maintained and updated every season on seals born in the Erebus Bay study area over the past 44 years of the population study's existence.

Weddell seal moms usually have only one pup per year, and average around 2 pups
every 3 years.  It is very unusual for a Weddell mom to give birth to twins, and both pups rarely survive.

– Mary Lynn Price