The second, a matter of method, was that I believed that advances could best be made by keeping laboratory findings and field observations in close contact, each feeding back information or suggestion to the other for further research. For this reason I have spent much time in the field at all times of the year as well as using laboratory techniques to unravel the yearly sexual cycles.
This book is about seals and not about the people who study seals. I have therefore not introduced a lot of extraneous matter about the difficulties of field work other than as explanations as to why certain information is not available. Those of us, professional and amateur alike, who have observed seals in the ‘field’ have done so because we like the work no matter that occasionally conditions are somewhat inclement. Such do not last for long and modern types of transport and facilities really make things much easier than heretofore. When Dr Gorvett and I went to Shillay in 1954–55 no suitable portable radio equipment was available. In 1959 for the first North Rona expedition we had a receiver-transmitter capable of covering 100 miles. True it needed two people to carry the two parts and the massive batteries, while a 12 ft. aerial had to be erected (and dismantled each time in case it blew away). By 1962 the several parties working in Orkney each had two-way radio to each other (and the coastguard) in apparatus easily portable by one person. Parallel advances were made in sound apparatus for recording vocalisations. But perhaps the greatest benefit has been in the use of plastic containers and insulating material for the collection of material for later laboratory examination. By the mid-1960’s I was able to obtain specimens of tissues and blood in Shetland, keep them at the low temperature necessary and send them to Oxford, where they arrived in perfect condition, for electron-microscopy and biochemical analyses. The advent of the high-speed inflatable dinghy has also contributed much towards landing parties obtaining material just as the helicopter and small plane have aided observation and censusing. One marvels at the work of early investigators such as Prof. W. Turner of Edinburgh who contributed much to our knowledge of seal and whale anatomy by the dissection of bodies many days old cast up on the beaches of Scotland. Nowadays it is possible to live among the seals in comfort and safety thanks to the advances in camping equipment, desiccated and tinned foods and weatherproof clothing. Although as Dr Backhouse has said there comes a time when we exclaim, ‘What we suffer in the cause of science!’, it is soon over and success is an ample reward.
It remains for me to thank the very large number of people without whose co-operation both the research and this book would have been impossible. First come the field-workers: J. L. Davies who started the ‘seal movement’ after the second war; the members of the Northumberland, Durham and Newcastle-upon-Tyne Natural History Society ably inspired and led by Mrs Grace Hickling assisted by Dr J. Goulson of Durham University, A. W. Jones, I. M. Telfer and others; Prof. J. D. Craggs, N. F. Ellison and others who have recorded on the West Hoyle Bank for 15 years; U. M. and L. S. V. Venables whose work on common seals has been outstanding; Dr J. Morton Boyd who has maintained the grey seal work in the Nature Conservancy (Scotland) over the past 15 years, assisted by numerous other workers on the annual visits to North Rona. Among these must also be counted those who collected material: Dr J. D. Lockie who sent me the first from carcases in the Berwick-on-Tweed area, E. A. Smith who contributed so much from Orkney, Jack Landscail of Orkney and William Laurenson of Shetland whose marksmanship and skill in reclaiming bodies made collection as humane and as least wasteful as possible. My thanks go especially to those who have accompanied me on trips to uninhabited islands and have had to put up with my eccentricities: Dr Gorvett and the late J. W. Siddorn, both of Imperial College, Drs J. D. Boyd and J. D. Lockie and the late James MacGeogh, all of Nature Conservancy (Scotland) and most of all Dr K. M. Backhouse, who has been with me so often and to so many places and whose cheerfulness and resourcefulness have meant so much to me. I must also thank those who have encouraged me from time to time in the work: Dr L. Harrison Matthews F.R.S., Prof. E. C. Amoroso F.R.S., Prof. R. J. Harrison F.R.S., Dr R. M. Laws and other members of the Joint Committee.
Lastly I come to those who have read the manuscript and whose comments have been of great value to me: W. N. Bonner for the grey seal and W. Vaughan for the common seal. Nevertheless I must emphasise that all errors and omissions together with expressions of opinion are my sole responsibility. I do not mind sticking my neck out if it stimulates someone to find out the true facts.
THE PINNIPEDIA, THEIR MODE OF LIFE AND RELATIONS WITH OTHER MAMMALS
THERE are only two truly British species of seal, although a number of others may occasionally be seen in our water, usually in the north. Before these are considered in detail it is necessary to see how they fit into the group (Order) to which they belong, the Pinnipedia. These comprise the hair or true seals, (Phocidae), the fur-seals and sea-lions (Otariidae) and walruses (Odobaenidae). Collectively they may be found in all the oceans of the world although they are certainly most numerous, both in species and in individuals, in the cooler waters of the arctic and antarctic regions. A systematic list of all species of Pinnipedia with their common names and rough distributions will be found in Appendix A. However they are not the only group of marine mammals and a glimpse at the other forms which have reverted to an aquatic existence is an aid in recognising the special features which are the basic adaptations to life in the sea for warm-blooded air-breathing vertebrates such as the mammals.
Two other groups have forsaken their ancestral methods of living on land and taken to a wholly marine existence. These are the Cetacea, or whales, porpoises and dolphins, and the Sirenia, or sea-cows. All three groups are of great antiquity (in terms of mammals) and it is not altogether easy to be certain of their ancestral connections in any detail, since fossil forms are scarce and fragmentary. On the whole it may be stated that the Sirenia have connections with forms which are also related to the elephants (Proboscidea) while both Cetacea and Pinnipedia are related to carnivoran stock. It is not surprising therefore to find that the Sirenia are vegetarians, feeding on seaweed, the Cetacea and Pinnipedia carnivorous, feeding on fish, squids and crustacea and other marine animals. The Cetacea broke away at a very early date long before the present carnivora became a defined Order of mammals. The Pinnipedia on the other hand have more recent connections and are directly related to the Carnivora. Indeed until recently they were always included as a Sub-order, and some systematists still so regard them.
The members of these three orders have features in common which have been evolved independently as essential adaptations to marine life. The most conspicuous of these is the streamlining of the animal by the production of a thick layer of blubber under the skin which not only smoothes out angularities but also provides an insulating layer against the low temperature of the water. In addition the limbs are reduced in all, the long bones of the fore-limbs are shortened and in the Cetacea and Sirenia the hind-limbs are lost altogether, while in the Pinnipedia these hind-limbs are much modified. The body too is elongated and roughly spindle-shaped in its proportions. These modifications deal with two problems connected with water, namely its low temperature and its greater density. There remains a third which is in some ways more serious, namely, that these animals being mammals are firmly committed to air breathing, possessing lungs, so that access to the air is essential and a means of preventing the entry of water into the trachea and lungs equally so. All therefore have nostrils which are normally closed and are opened only by voluntary muscles when the head is above the surface of the water. The provision of oxygen to maintain activities when the animal is submerged is made in different ways in the different groups. For example Cetaceans dive with full lungs, pinnipedes with empty ones, but the details of respiration are complex and will be dealt with later. Propulsion through the dense medium of water has also led to another convergent feature, the fusing of the digits by webbing, either thin or thick, thus forming a flipper or fin out of the normal mammalian hand or foot. There is also a tendency for the hair to be reduced in length although this is not universal in the groups. In Cetacea and Sirenia the body is almost naked, but the vibrissae or moustachial hairs are retained either as normal tactile