Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Watching Seals dance


In August 2008 while on a day trip to Gabriola Island I witnessed something I'd never seen or heard of before, something never seen in wildlife documentaries. A Seal, less than fifty feet from the shore was repeatedly leaping two thirds of it's body length out of the water and slapping its pectoral flippers and tail on the surface with repeated loud smacks! The day was quite warm, with temperatures sneaking up over thirty Celsius, and little cloud. Perhaps it was getting rid of parasites, performing a pre courtship display meant to attract potential mates, or just generally feeling good about being a Seal. At the time I thought no more of it.

This year I have witnessed the dance of the Seal several times, and even once today at Lantzville. A seal less than a hundred feet from the shore flipped over in the water and slapped its tail on the surface, dived deep then, as I'd witnessed near Gabriola Island, rocketed two thirds of it's body length out of the water before slapping down hard with its hind or pectoral flippers. Said acrobatics were performed two or three times, then the seal in question would dive for five or so minutes before coming up for air, staring mournfully about for five or ten minutes, then diving and repeating the display further along the shoreline. Recently I've seen the same behaviour in Dodd Narrows while I was fishing last weekend, and for several previous weekends all the way back to early September. Sometimes by more than one Harbour seal at a time.

A quick google search indicates that this water slapping behaviour is part of a pre-courtship ritual, so perhaps what I'm actually witnessing is a gathering of the local Harbour Seal populations lonely hearts club?

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