Sealed with a kiss

In 1486, the first European (a Portuguese bloke) set foot on the coast of Namibia.
Well, he had trouble actually setting foot on the coast of Namibia where he landed because of all the seals. The site, known as Cape Cross (115km north of Swakopmund - if that helps) is the largest breeding area of Cape Fur Seals.

Lots...

...and lots...

...and lots of seals.

Usually fluctuating in numbers between 80 000 and 100 000.

These images are all female "cow" seals and their babies. It is not mating season so the "bulls" are all off eating their fill, bulking up for the next season of good lovin'. Cows weigh about 75kg (although a lady never tells) but the bulls try to get up to 360kg so they can impress the girls. The bulls are considerably lighter after all their defending of territory, herding of females (up to 25 cows each) and making of hay while the sun shines. Naturally enough, then, it's back to the sea for the blokes after their conjugal visit.

The ladies, meanwhile, mate, get pregnant, get the embryo to lie dormant for a few months, gestate for a further nine months, give birth, mate, get pregnant, get the embryo to lie dormant... You get the picture. So the cows are in residence at Cape Cross pretty much all year round.

Great for a tourist attraction.

Not so great for a tourist attraction is the smell made by 80 000 - 100 000 seals. Oh My Goodness!!

For my midwifery friends - and any other interested parties - seals come on to land to give birth to their single pups (no water births here). Most of the pups are born in November or December (wouldn't that make rostering a breeze?). Pups weigh 4.5 - 7.0kg (gestational diabetes, anyone??). Pups suckle within an hour of birth (without the aid of lactation consultants) and keep it up for about a year (no bottles. Straight to solids) but cows will only suckle their own young (apparently, they only stick together in such large numbers for safety - they don't actually like one another).

Here is an interesting fact: Cape Fur Seals have ears. Technically, all seals have ears, but these seals have external ears.

All the better to hear you with. (All the better with which to hear you - for the pedants)

These ears must come in handy. Early on, the cows will leave their babies while they go off for a bit of foraging and when they return from sea the cow and pup find each other by calling (VERY LOUDLY!! x 80 000 = much noise. They are better at making a "Baa" noise than a sheep).

But those ears don't seem to alert them to the fall of the axe. Well, technically it is a club, not an axe, but I digress. The mortality rate of seals at Cape Cross indicates that they do a pretty good job at self-regulating their population (causes of death include premature birth, being trampled by other seals, drowning, being trampled by other seals, abandonment, being trampled by other seals, mum-rolling-on-pup-while-feeding, being trampled by other seals and being eaten by predators (jackals, hyenas and sharks top the bill) - not to mention being trampled by other seals (there are a lot of seals!). However, (and here's where I get all controversial on you) authorities feel the need to add to the mortality rate through human-led culling. Every year the country sees the second-biggest seal cull in the world (that's the second biggest cull of seals, not a cull of the second biggest seals). 

Sensitive readers - look away. The culled seals are sold for their fur, their oil (which is extracted for use as omega-3), and their meat (which goes into animal feed - because bovines naturally include seal meat in their diet, right?!). Their genitals are sold to China for traditional medicines (it's always the genitals with those traditional Chinese herbalists. What is with that?). Namibia's seal pelts are sold to one man. An Australian! (Shame, Turkish/Australian man. Shame)

The Namibian government allegedly allows tens of thousands of young seals and several thousand bulls to be culled (clubbed and shot respectively) between July and November each year. The exercise, which is condemned by animal rights groups, is necessary for the survival of Namibia’s fishing industry, government officials have said (all those seals eat a lot of fish).

Time for a nice picture of a cute seal.

This (not so) cute seal cornered my six year old and frightened him to tears (although later he denied the tears). Fighting a fleeting urge to institute a spot of culling of my own to protect my young, I managed to shoo her off the people-pathway and she returned to her own kind (much to her obvious annoyance).

So, after a morning of communing with some of nature's beauties (many of whom have their future sealed), we moved a little bit away from the waft of the seals and settled down to our packed lunch of (ill-considered in hindsight) club sandwiches. (Too far?)