[Leica] There Be Beasties...

[jayanand at gmail.com (Jayanand Govindaraj)]

Geoff, Luis, Douglas, Henning, Howard C
Thanks for looking. Geoff, these are fairly placid beasts. Fur Seals bulls,
on the other hand, are aggressive and bite, and we were all told in detail
how to handle these situations before we got off ship the first time. Luis,
All the shots were taken handheld, and with the Nikons at least, I am not
too bothered any more about High ISO - it easier to set up the camera to
capture action, and move on. Douglas, well, they can outrun a human being
on land for short distances - their charge, we were told, can reach 25mph.
Cheers
Jayanand


On Sat, Feb 8, 2014 at 10:41 AM, Henning Wulff <henningw at 
archiphoto.com>wrote:

> Great stuff, Jayanand! I also find elephant seals fascinating. 'Prayers'
> is also my favourite.
>
> Henning
>
>
>
> On 2014-02-07, at 5:19 AM, Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand at gmail.com> 
> wrote:
>
> > Elephant Seals look like prehistoric beasts, something out of a fantasy
> > novel, or an RPG computer game, weird and sort of out of this world. In
> > Gold Harbour, there were hundreds of juvenile males, most of them lying
> in
> > groups, moulting their skin, piled close to each other, in a pungent
> > mixture of mud, water and their excreta. Their mating season gets over in
> > November, so the 5 tonne fully grown adult males were all out to sea,
> > feeding and replenishing their reserves. They are quite amazing beasts,
> and
> > radio tracking has now confirmed that they dive to 5000+ feet in the
> ocean,
> > resurface for half a minute and dive again to the same depth. Nobody has
> as
> > yet cottoned on to the body chemistry that allows them to do that, and
> > research is still active around this.
> >
> > Here a King Penguin inspects one such group:
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140113_3476.jpg.html
> >
> > Usually, their inactivity is marred only by a leisurely scratch on a
> > particularly itchy bit of moulting skin:
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140113_3568.jpg.html
> >
> > They let you get quite close to them, just looking curiously back at you
> > with those limpid eyes:
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140113_3648.jpg.html
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140113_3781.jpg.html
> >
> > Some pray on the waters edge (-:
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140113_3714.jpg.html
> >
> > But these are juveniles, and the testosterone flow is strong, and
> > periodically they test their strength with each other, in training to
> > become Beachmasters when they grow up, as well as decide the pecking
> order
> > within a group. They joust on land:
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140113_3455.jpg.html
> >
> > At waters edge:
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140113_3532.jpg.html
> >
> > They come in all shapes, sizes and colours:
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140113_3872.jpg.html
> >
> > The standard move is to rear back, mouths agape:
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140113_3890.jpg.html
> >
> > Then lunge and thud into each other:
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140113_3921.jpg.html
> >
> > Frequently ending in a boxer's clinch:
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140113_3850.jpg.html
> >
> > They are so preoccupied, you can get in close, on foot, reasonably
> safely:
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140113_3962.jpg.html
> >
> > Closer:
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140113_4016.jpg.html
> >
> > And closer still:
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140113_3937.jpg.html
> >
> > They are surprisingly fast on land, and one has to keep an eye out for
> > accidentally being trampled over, which with that weight and bulk.....(-:
> >
> > Please see LARGE
> >
> > Comments and criticism, as ever, welcome
> >
> > Cheers
> > Jayanand
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Leica Users Group.
> > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> >
>
>
> Henning Wulff
> henningw at archiphoto.com
>
>
>
>
>
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