Seal behaviour

[scubaninja]

I visited Donna Nook this weekend and after watching the seals for some time, I became curious about a behaviour that at least two of them were exhibiting: they would use their front flippers to ‘slap’ the ground. While doing this they were laid upright, with their head down, always a male against another male. At first I thought it may have been a sign of aggression i.e. the ‘slapping’ male was trying to scare another male, but the former male would then leave the non ‘slapping’ male alone. Also I saw this happen again but between males nearly on top of each other: the ‘slapping’ male had obviously lost the battle for territory and turned away from the dominant male but continued to ‘slap’ when fleeing, which made me think it maybe a submissive behaviour. I just wondered if anyone else had seen this and what thoughts people had on it.

Jon

[Dogghound]

Are these Grey or Common seals?

[scubaninja]

hi sorry, there greys

[scubaninja]

this was a photo of the second pair: the closest seal is the 'slapping' animal

[Farplace]

I think it must be something to do with territory, but I know nothing about seal behaviour.

[barquar]

Hi Jon were there many Seals on the beach how far up the beach were they and how many male and females.
Barquar

[scubaninja]

Hi Barquar

There was 9 seals on the upper beach approx 20m away from the fence, 2 of which were females one had pupped and the other looked like she would soon, each female had a dominent male near her, the slapping was only directed to one of the dominent males with a female, the picture above was a slapping male and a male without a female (yet). The lower beach near the tideline had approx 1000 with atleast 3 pups (they were sparsly spread) with small same sex and mixed groups of 3-4,the behaviour itself was not observed on the lower beach.

Jon

[Adam Cheeseman]

Whilst at Salthouse, Norfolk, I watched a Grey Seal that was in the surf along the shoreline just after daybreak. It was floating there up right with its head held normally and eyes open. Then about every ten seconds or so it wound point its snout skywards and close its eyes for a couple of seconds. Was it getting micro naps or something else?

Cheers,

Adam

[barquar]

Originally Posted by scubaninja

Hi Barquar

There was 9 seals on the upper beach approx 20m away from the fence, 2 of which were females one had pupped and the other looked like she would soon, each female had a dominent male near her, the slapping was only directed to one of the dominent males with a female, the picture above was a slapping male and a male without a female (yet). The lower beach near the tideline had approx 1000 with atleast 3 pups (they were sparsly spread) with small same sex and mixed groups of 3-4,the behaviour itself was not observed on the lower beach.

Jon

Thanks Jon for your update on the seals at Donna Nook.
Barquar

[Billabong Karen]

Originally Posted by Adam Cheeseman

Whilst at Salthouse, Norfolk, I watched a Grey Seal that was in the surf along the shoreline just after daybreak. It was floating there up right with its head held normally and eyes open. Then about every ten seconds or so it wound point its snout skywards and close its eyes for a couple of seconds. Was it getting micro naps or something else?

Cheers,

Adam

Saw your great photo recently Adam! Certainly sounds like your seal was having a 'power nap'!